Anti-financial scamming bill pushed

 (FILE IMAGE / REUTERS)

MANILA, Philippines — A bill aimed at protecting Filipinos from financial cybercrime schemes was sponsored in the Senate on Wednesday.

Senator Mark Villar, in a plenary session, sponsored Senate Bill No. 2560 under Committee Report No. 204, otherwise known as the Anti-Financial Scamming Act (AFASA).

“Ang pinaghirapan ng ating mga kapwa Pilipino na para sana sa kanilang pang-araw-araw na gastusin ay ninanakaw lamang ng mga scammers. These are heinous crimes against our people, Mr. President and it is upon us to ensure that they will be put to a stop as soon as possible,” said Villar.

(The hard-earned money of the people for their daily expenses is stolen by scammers. These are heinous crimes against our people, Mr. President and it is upon us to ensure that they will be put to a stop as soon as possible.)

Once enacted into law, Villar said the AFASA will serve as the primary legislation penalizing scammers and providing legislative support to the Philippine financial institutions to combat the proliferation of scammers.

“The AFASA will provide safety measures that will go after financial cybercrimes, such as being a money mule, committing social engineering schemes, and economic sabotage. AFASA also provides the responsibility of responsible institutions to protect and secure their clients’ financial accounts, such as mandating them to have adequate risk management systems and controls including, but not limited to multi-factor authentication, fraud management systems , other account-holder enrollment and verification processes,” Villar said.

Villar shared  that in the first eight months of 2023, more than 8,000 Filipinos lost more than P155 million to different types of scams.

“Magkakaroon na po ng solusyon ang ating mga kababayan na maibalik sa kanila ang perang kanilang pinaghirapan nang hindi na kinakailangan na dumulog sa alin mang hukuman, kung ang dahilan ng scam ay ang kapabayaan ng ating mga banko, e-wallets, at financial institutions,” be emphasized, noting that he cannot “just sit and do nothing” while scammers steal money from the people.

(Our countrymen can recover their hard-earned money without having to go to any court, if it is due to negligence of our banks, e-wallets and inancial institutions.)

“Through the AFASA, we are looking forward to the future of a scam-free Philippines,” he added.

In a bid to entirely end fraudulent schemes surrounding banks and financial institutions, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri as well as Senators Joel Villanueva, Win Gatchalian, Bong Revilla, and Jinggoy Estrada have co-sponsored the bill.