Trackers of ‘dirty’ money need money

MANILA, Philippines–Following suspicious money trails and protecting crime witnesses need more funds for 2015.

Officials of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and the Witness Protection Program (WPP) on Thursday appealed to the Senate for additional allocations for their respective programs intended to keep up with the technological advances used by crime syndicates to hide their money, and to protect witnesses who will attest to criminal activities.

AMLC Executive Director Julia Bacay-Abad said the agency needs more funds next year to train its personnel to keep up with the new schemes of criminal syndicates.

The AMLC needs P7.9 million for the training and scholarship expenses of its personnel, but it was given only P190,000 for next year, Abad said at the Senate budget hearing on Thursday.

“We need to constantly train our personnel, that’s why we need such amount. Without such training, our investigators will be left behind… We know how criminals work and most of the time, they’re even more advanced in terms of technology, so we need to constantly catch up with them,” she said at the Senate finance committee’s hearing on the council’s budget.

The AMLC has a P17.6-million proposed budget for 2015, which she noted was less than half its present P38.8-million budget.

Abad also said AMLC needs a bigger intelligence budget. For next year, it was given P2 million but it had proposed a P5-million budget.

Also asking for additional funds is the WPP under the Department of Justice.

WPP Director Martin Menez said the program would encounter a problem with funding the salaries of its personnel who guard witnesses.

Menez said the WPP has had an increase in the number of witnesses, but its 2015 budget for personnel did not rise. Its budget for the security personnel for 2015 stands at P42.56 million, same as in 2014.

“The problem is the number of witnesses is increasing, so we also have to hire additional personnel,” he added.

The WPP has 575 witnesses nationwide. In 2010, the WPP had an average of 465 witnesses. From 2011 to 2013, it had an average of 549 witnesses.

Aside from security, people under the WPP could also get housing and financial assistance. Some are provided livelihood training such as candle making, because they could not go to work.

The perks under the WPP prompted Sen. Loren Legarda to ask whether the witnesses are enjoying their stay, considering they get free housing and allowance.

Menez said that some of them are, indeed, enjoying themselves.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the number of covered witnesses varied at any given time because there would be witnesses who would be discharged because they had completed their testimonies and there was no more threat to them, or would voluntarily opt to leave the program due to homesickness.

The WPP also has witnesses who have been with it for 8 to 10 years, some even after their cases had long been concluded. This was because the threat to them was still present.

De Lima also said these long-staying witnesses are few in number.