Firm that delivered multi-million dollars, pesos only earned P50 per transaction

Believe it or not but a remittance company that transmitted multi-million dollars and pesos believed to be stolen from the Bank of Bangladesh (BB) only earned P50 per transaction.

Salud Bautista, president of Philrem Service Corporation, told the Senate blue ribbon committee that they only charge a flat rate of P50 per transaction.

“Your honor, in the remittance business, we actually charge a flat rate for a transaction but depending on the type of service…So more or less, you will laugh but its P50 per transaction,” she said, responding to Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara’s query.

Bautista earlier claimed that she personally delivered US $18 million and another P600 million—both in cash—to a junket operator identified as a certain Weikang Xu.

READ: RCBC branch manager ordered cash delivery to junket operator—witness

Angara then asked the Philrem official how much the company charged for its transactions.

Bautista explained that the P50 fee was the company’s regular rate for overseas Filipino workers.

“So how many transactions did $81 million entail?” Angara asked, referring to the reported $81 million funds allegedly stolen by computer hackers from the US accounts of BB.

Before Bautista could answer, Senator Teofisto Guingona III followed up another question as he expressed disbelief that the remittance company would earn only P50 from the said cash deliveries.

“Ms. Salud, you delivered P600 million in cash and 18 million in dollars and you’re saying P50 lang ang na-charged, ang kita mo doon (that only P50 was charged for that transaction?)” Guingona asked.

“Because our transaction is a remittance transaction,” Bautista said.

“Yun nga, so P50 lang? So dalawang P50, P100 ang charge mo doon sa dalawang transactions (Yes, so it was only P50 Two P50 so the total amount charged was P100 for the two transactions)?” Guingona asked again to which Bautista answered: “Yes, your honor.”

“So P100 for P600 million delivery and 18 million dollars delivery?” the senator again asked.

However, Bautista explained that the two cash deliveries were done in several transactions.

She later asked for time to check on their records when Guingona and Angara pressed her to give the total fee that they charged for the two cash deliveries. RAM

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