Will the Bangladesh Money Hack Case in Manila be Handled with Seriousness by the Philippine Senate?
Posted on Sunday 27 March 2016
Will
the Bangladesh Money Hack Case in Manila
Be
Handled with Seriousness by the Philippine Senate?
By Apolinario Villalobos
The timely exposition on the hacking of the
Bangladesh Central Bank has immensely benefited the senators who are seeking
reelection…they who are conducting the investigation “in aid of legislation” in
front of the TV cameras. Meanwhile, the
statements of people involved in the mentioned celebrated money laundering case
in the country are allegedly leading to the obvious cover-up effort by the
parties involved.
Numerous cases have been handled by the
Philippine Senate “in aid of legislation”, but nothing came out of them, not
even the “bills” that are supposed to have been written based on their
“findings”, most of which are “hanging”. The televised hearings on plunder
cases that landed senators Bong Revilla, Jinggoy Estrada, and Juan Ponce Enrile
in confinement, have been viewed with suspicion as being ploys to get rid of
heavyweight oppositions during the 2016 election as the first two-mentioned
personalities have expressed their plan to run for president and
vice-president, respectively, years earlier. On the other hand, Enrile has been
known as a sharp critic of the Aquino administration, aside from having prodded
the two to go ahead with their plan. After having been detained, nothing has
been heard about the “second” and “third” batches of plunderers in the list of
which are names of the administration people.
Now, with the Bangladesh Money Hack Case
that has been transposed into Money Laundering Case, there is a big question on
why only Deguito, the RCBC branch manager was charged while the rest who have
been named are not. One question leads to another, as concerned persons who
cannot stand the gnawing of their conscience came out in the open to tell the
“truth”. Will these small fries who are mere ordinary employees stand the
pressure from the bigwigs, who are involved? A former lady employee of RCBC who
has been interviewed over the radio, expressed her apprehensions that led to
her resignation when she was subjected to a barrage of questioning with a
consistent advice to “cooperate” to put an end to the case. Despite her
insistence that she was telling the truth to the investigating panel of the
company, according to her, they were not satisfied a bit.
True to its reactionary image, the
Philippine Senate through the senators who compose the investigating committee
declared that there is a need to “review” the Bank Secrecy Law of the
Philippines. Are these same people, who themselves are sporting questionable
images on honesty be expected to be credible and fair enough in their “review”?
If these guys are really serious in their job of coming up with relevant laws,
with the one on bank secrecy included, they could have done it a long, long
time ago, yet.
It should be noted that the lawmakers did
not pass the law for transparency of public records that could have given the
media, researchers and investigators a sharper clout in scrutinizing
questionable projects that vary from “small time” junket travels, seminars,
trainings, etc. to “big time” infrastructures, such as highways, bridges,
flyovers, buildings, etc. They also relegated to the filing cabinet the
documents on the bill against political dynasty, as obviously, it will put an
end to their selfish lording over the lawmaking halls of the country. There is
also an allegation that the pork barrel system still exists as it has never
been eradicated, being hidden behind sheer masquerades of renamed
provisions….and, many more etceteras to their hollow promises and hypocrisy.
With the celebrated money laundering case
that is being heard in the Senate today, again, “in aid of legislation”, will
the impoverished Bangladesh expect a swift and fair result? Personally, I
say…only time can tell…if at all!
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