Senate disagrees with Palace certification of AMLA bill ‘with condition’ 

The Senate building at the GSIS Complex in Pasay City. (Photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate on Wednesday snubbed Malacañang’s certification for the urgent passage of a bill seeking to strengthen the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) because it sets some “conditions” thus, violating the separation of powers between two co-equal branches of government.

“Some of us that have been here long enough know that yes, indeed, there are times when the executive department would whisper their wishes on certain pieces of legislation, but it is never written down in black and white,” Senate President Vicente Sotto III said during the plenary session.

“This is the first time that it is done and I don’t think it will qualify as a letter of certification as far as the Senate is concerned because it violates the separation of powers. We will approve what the members of the Senate want to approve as far as the second reading is concerned,” Sotto added.

With a certification from the Palace, the Senate would be allowed to pass the bill on third reading immediately after the second reading without waiting for three days to do so.

But the letter certification on the passage of the anti-money laundering bill states that “the certification, however, is subject to the proposed reduction of the threshold for tax crimes to [P20 million], retention of the prevailing reporting threshold for real estate transactions, and grant of the requested additional investigative powers to the Anti-Money Laundering Council as reflected in House Bill No. 7904.”

“I believe that these provisions are absolutely essential to achieving the objectives of this bill,” President Rodrigo Duterte said in his certification letter.

The House of Representatives has already passed its version of the bill last Dec. 1.

“My office is in receipt of a copy of the certification coming from Malacañang and I assume all the members of this chamber have also furnished a copy. My question is how do we resolve the certification as issued considering that it contains some conditionality?” Lacson asked.

Senate Majority Juan Miguel Zubiri commented that in his more than 20 years as a legislator, this was the first time he encountered a certification with “conditions.”

Senator Grace Poe, who is sponsoring the bill as chair of the Senate banks, financial institutions and currencies committee, said that the certification sent by Malacañang is “almost bordering on telling us what provisions should be included” in the Senate version of the bill.

“This is the first time I’ve seen a certification with conditions and I’m just a little bit bothered by those conditions, precisely because I feel that I know that the President and Malacañang has always expressed the separation of powers, the executive and the legislative and the judiciary,” Poe said.

“By putting those conditions—the Anti-Money Laundering Council as reflected in House Bill No. 7904—it basically tells us to pass that version alone if we really want this bill to be qualified for that certification. So in short, nakadikta ho dito kung ano dapat ang mga probisyon na dapat nating ipasa [So it is dictated here what provision that we need to pass] so with that alone,” she added.

Poe said that she would accept amendments which she feels that other senators “have decided to be fair” and “effective.”

“I understand there’s always a meeting of the minds sometimes when we confer with the members of the executive, but unless the body decides collegially and unless this is something we decide on our own, I don’t think it will be the democratic process to just pass this bill based on what is written in this certification,” she added.

Sotto shared the same view as Poe.

“We will approve what the members of the Senate want to approve as far as the second reading is concerned,” the Senate President said.

Lacson, for his part, said:  “In other words, without showing any sign of disrespect to Malacañang we’ll just do our job in regard to Senate Bill No. 1945.”

Since the Senate opted not to avail of the certification from the President, the bill would not be able to pass through the third and final reading before Congress goes on break on Dec. 19.

Congress will resume session in January next year.

JPV