FORMER President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has filed a bill seeking to amend the Central Bank Act to take away the powers of the central bank governor over the Anti Money Laundering Council.
She filed House Bill 731 that seeks to amend to Section 128 of the Central Bank Act to prohibit the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas from supervising the AMLC, although its governor may serve as a member of the Council.
Arroyo says the central bank must be liberated from the burden of supervising the AMLC, which performs criminal investigations and other functions.
She says AMLC Chairman and central bank Governor Armando Tetangco Jr. was appointed during the Arroyo administration and was re-appointed under the Aquino administration.
“Though Tetangco has unquestionably served the BSP itself with distinction, his supervision over the AMLC has exposed some problems,” Arroyo said in a statement.
“The said agency has been acting much on its own with regard to its investigations without bothering to get specific clearances from the BSP governor.”
Arroyo said the AMLC, whose officers were appointed by the previous administration, had demonstrated the potential of being used as a tool of selective justice.
“In the previous administration, grossly inaccurate information on the alleged bank accounts of then presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte and other perceived opponents of the officers’ appointing authority were leaked out,” Arroyo said.
“In contrast, information is now being withheld from authorized investigators on the bank accounts of certain persons under investigation who happen to be identified with the previous authority which appointed them, and to whom they seem to owe their allegiance.
“Part of the problem is that although excellent in the management of the country’s monetary system, career technocrats like Tetangco do not have the temperament and training to supervise criminal investigations such as those conducted by the AMLC.”