After earning Duterte ire, AMLC responds swiftly to DOJ request

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. Presidential Photo

Barely two hours after President Rodrigo Duterte poured scorn on the Anti-Money Laundering Council’s (AMLC) uncooperative attitude over their request for documents regarding transactions of certain accounts linked to drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), it  responded to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request.

In his speech during the 80th Anniversary of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Duterte called the AMLC a “garbage” he resented for failing to do its mandate.

READ: Duterte slams AMLC: You failed miserably

AMLC is mandated to implement the provisions of Republic Act 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering act of 2001. Its primary duty is to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of bank accounts and ensure that the Philippines shall not be used as a money laundering site for the proceeds of any unlawful activity.

However, Duterte said AMLC is making it difficult for the DOJ to gather information related to its investigation on the drug transactions inside the NBP.

For months, the DOJ has been requesting documents from the AMLC related to their investigation on various drug transactions inside the prison. AMLC has provided documents to the DOJ. The DOJ made another request but for over a month, the AMLC has not made any response.

READ: Duterte: P5-B drug money laundered

“After the President nagdiskurso kahapon na nagagalit sya sa AMLC, mga 3 o’clock yun, at 4:30 ng hapon dumating yung sagot (of AMLC) (expressed anger towards AMLC around 3 p.m., AMLC’s answer came at 4:30 p.m.),” Aguirre said.

He said the date in the document given by AMLC was handwritten.

“Makikita mo 11 November 2016—yun ang date nung dokumento. Ibig sabihin nung 11 pa ready na, pero yung 11 ballpen lang, blangko yun, nilagay lang ang 11 (You will see 11 November 2016 is the date of the document. It means it has been ready since November 11 but the date was handwritten, it was blank and they just wrote 11 there),” Aguirre said.

“May pinanggagalingan si Presidente kung bakit siya nagagalit… alam mo tagal namin hinintay yan at hindi dumarating ang response ng AMLC (The President has a reason to get angry… You know we have waited for it fo a long time yet no response of AMLC has come),” Aguirre said which was why the NBI opted to file its complaint with the DOJ without waiting for AMLC’s response.

“They [NBI] probably thought they will just pursue their request before the AMLC later on,” Aguirre said.

The justice chief suspects there was a reason for the delay in the AMLC’s response but he refused to discuss it. He added that Duterte feels bad about the AMLC’s perceived lack of cooperation, citing that the AMLC also did nothing when Senator Antonio Trillanes IV accused Duterte, during the campaign period, of having over P200 million in his bank accounts.

“Dapat ang ginawa ng AMLC, inimbestigahan nila yung akusasyon ni Trillanes at kung inimbestigahan nila makikita nila na walang ganung amount. At kung sasabihin nila sa media, lalong mananalo, baka 20 million ang botong nakuha (The AMLC should have investigated the accusations of Trillanes so they would see that there such an amount doesn’t exist. if they would inform the media, [Duterte] would have gotten more votes, around 20 million),” Aguirre said. RAM/rga

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