Duterte threat forces AMLC exec to quit

Julia Bacay-Abad

Outgoing Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) executive director Julia Bacay-Abad said on Tuesday her decision to quit her post following President Duterte’s tirades against the AMLC was “for the greater good of the agency.”

She said she was saddened by criticisms leveled at the AMLC by the President and others, particularly in the wake of last year’s $81-million Bangladesh money-laundering heist—the biggest such case to hit the Philippines that sent shock waves across the banking sector.

“It’s quite unfortunate that some people would say things like that against AMLC. Probably, they just have a misimpression of what AMLC has been doing,” Abad told reporters on the sidelines of a congressional hearing at the House of Representatives.

In December, Mr. Duterte castigated AMLC officials for supposedly refusing to cooperate in the government’s investigation of suspected criminals, saying they were “contributing to the corruption in the country.”

“I’ll count one to three, and if you do not resign, I will treat you as a drug addict,” he warned them.

But Abad said the President might have been only misinformed.

“It was really my decision [to resign] because I feel it will be for the greater good of the agency,” she said. “After considering all things, I believe that this decision will better serve the agency. Hopefully, things will be better.”

Abad, whose resignation took effect on Tuesday, said she had not been in contact with Mr. Duterte at all.

In a Jan. 30 statement, she said “recent developments that confronted the AMLC and its secretariat gave me the occasion to realize that, though already resilient on its own, the AMLC secretariat will be accorded with renewed strength through a transformed strategy.”