MONDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2016 PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

BUSINESSB 1

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Editor Raul O. Marcelo • Business News Editor Corrie S. Narisma

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$100-M laundering via PH banks, casinos probed

Airport PPP bidsubmission movedto March 28By Miguel R. Camus

THE DEPARTMENT of Transportation andCommunications (DOTC) confirmed the fi-nal bid submission deadline for a public-private partnership (PPP) project involvingthe auction of provincial airport contracts.

A bid memorandum dated Feb. 26, 2016,showed that the final bid submission datewas set on March 28 this year.

The PPP is for the operation and mainte-nance as well as development contracts forthe Bacolod-Silay, Iloilo, Davao, Laguindin-gan and New Bohol air gateways valued at acombined P108 billion. The DOTC had an-nounced that the earlier-set Feb. 29 deadlinewould not be met pending the issuance of thefinal concession agreement.

This is the second airport-focused PPPsince the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu Interna-tional Airport operation-maintenance andexpansion contract was successfully auc-tioned off in 2014.

The provincial airport PPPs are amongthose that the DOTC is hoping to bid out andaward before President Aquino steps down inJune this year.

The bidding process for certain deals, in-cluding the provincial airports contracts, cancontinue despite an election ban that runsfrom March 25 through May 8 this year be-cause the Commission on Elections decidedthat PPP projects are not covered by prohibi-

Further consolidation seenLOCAL stocks are seen continuing toconsolidate this week while investors siftthrough global news and the ongoing streamof local corporate earnings reports.

Last week, the Philippine Stock Exchangeindex (PSEi) slipped by 20.76 points to closeon Friday at 6,771.30.

“Further consolidation is expected fromthe index this week as 100-day movingaverage (6,850) continues to put pressure onprices,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan,managing director at Regina CapitalDevelopment Corp.

“Weaker momentum readings increase thechance of a downward reaction back toprevious support points,” Limlingan added.

Failure to hold the 20-day moving averageat 6,700, Limlingan said, could trigger apullback toward the January 2016 breakoutpoint at 6,600. “We prefer this scenario tohappen in order to induce fresh demand andestablish a solid higher low base,” he said.

On the other hand, he said breaking pastthe 100-day moving average at 6,850 wouldinspire rallies toward 6,900. But since this

By Daxim L. Lucas

THE COUNTRY’S financial regulators are investi-gating what could be the biggest single money laun-dering activity ever uncovered in the Philippines—a

total of $100 million that was brought into thecountry’s banking system, sold to a black mar-ket foreign exchange broker, transferred to atleast three large local casinos, sold back to themoney broker and moved out to overseas ac-counts, all in a matter of days.

More importantly, the suspected illicit funds

are said to be part of funds stolen by computerhackers recently from the accounts of a bankoverseas, which INQUIRER sources said was a fi-nancial institution in Bangladesh.

“The initial report is that some funds wentmissing in Bangladesh and the suspicion is that

$100-M LAUNDERING / B2

AIRPORT / B3

� Biz Buzz: Punitive /B2

IN THIS ISSUE

� SSS sells ManilaHarbour Centre lotsfor P264M /B2-1

FURTHER / B3

PSE COMPOSITE INDEX

2B MONDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2016

PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

BUSINESS

CURRENCIESCURRENCIESCURRENCIESFebruary 28, 2016 Euro Dollar PesoCountry Unit Equivalent Equivalent Equivalent

United States Dollar 0.906372 1.000000 47.6770Japan Yen 0.008030 0.008860 0.4224United Kingdom Pound 1.265748 1.396500 66.5809Hong Kong Dollar 0.116661 0.128712 6.1366Switzerland Franc 0.915712 1.010305 48.1683Canada Dollar 0.669403 0.738552 35.2119Singapore Dollar 0.647085 0.713929 34.0380Australia Dollar 0.653053 0.720513 34.3519Bahrain Dinar* 2.408001 2.656748 126.6658Saudi Arabia Rial 0.241757 0.266731 12.7169Brunei Dollar 0.644783 0.711389 33.9169Indonesia Rupiah 0.000068 0.000075 0.0036Thailand Baht**** 0.025403 0.028027 1.3362UAE Dirham 0.246793 0.272287 12.9818EU Euro 1.000000 1.103300 52.6020Korea Won 0.000732 0.000808 0.0385China Yuan** 0.138708 0.153036 7.2963Denmark Kroner 0.133980 0.147820 7.0476India Rupee 0.013170 0.014530 0.6927Malaysia Ringgit 0.214984 0.237192 11.3086New Zealand Dollar 0.606634 0.669299 31.9102Sweden Kroner 0.106739 0.117765 5.6147Taiwan NT Dollar 0.027307 0.030128 1.4364

Source: Reuters’ forex closing prices as of NY time—Feb. 25, 2016* Various banks in Bahrain as quoted in Reuters’ screen. ** Asian time closing rate as of Feb. 25, 2016 **** THB On-shore price

GET STOCK MARKET AND FOREX UPDATES AS THEY HAPPEN ON YOUR MOBILE PHONE. TEXT ON INQ BUSINESS TO 4467, P2.50/ALERT.

OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE % Change Pt. Change VOLUME VALUE

Financials 1,500.67 1,500.67 1,490.46 1,498.57 -0.43 -6.50 16,056,101 1,006,460,610.92Industrials 11,016.16 11,101.78 10,976.76 11,090.96 0.68 75.75 104,106,117 1,645,597,768.53Holding Firms 6,368.74 6,427.11 6,368.74 6,427.11 0.20 13.21 151,699,737 1,871,415,686.48Property 2,674.50 2,705.48 2,673.29 2,693 -0.58 -15.96 97,647,823 826,633,944.51Services 1,540.26 1,548.19 1,532.63 1,535.75 -0.20 -3.17 242,674,758 944,908,183.98Mining & Oil 10,594.54 10,671.32 10,594.54 10,621.72 0.26 27.94 279,003,920 154,509,140.14SME 322,794 2,411,675.88ETF 52,940 5,797,732PSEi 6,731.40 6,773.03 6,728.65 6,771.30 0.03 2.04All Shares 3,886.55 3,905.76 3,883.27 3,905.76 0.10 4.18GRAND TOTAL 891,564,190 6,457,734,742.44

COMPILED BY RAFAEL ANTONIO, INQUIRER RESEARCH SOURCE: TECHNISTOCK, PSE

PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGEPHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGEPHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE(As of February 28, 2016)

52-WEEK-HIGH

52-WEEK-LOW OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE VOLUMEBANKS

50 42.8 Asia United Bank Corp. 44.8 44.8 44.5 44.8 7,800124.4 90.5 BDO Unibank Inc. 98.8 99 97.05 99 2,501,920107 80 Bank of the Philippine Islands 85 85 83.8 84.2 3,441,680.0044.86 33.5 China Banking Corp. 36 36.1 36 36.1 191,70025.25 15.82 East West Banking Corp. 16.2 16.2 15.92 15.92 259,300100 67.3 Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. 74.75 75.3 74.6 75.3 4,120,19020 14 Philippine Business Bank 15 15 15 15 14,70084.5 43 Philippine National Bank 52.2 52.5 52 52.1 12,210108.1 85 Philippine Savings Bank 102.9 102.9 97.9 98 62047.7 29.25 Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. 34 34 32.8 33 37,400180 119.5 Security Bank Corp. 140.9 141.1 140.4 140.7 580,32070.9 49.8 Union Bank of the Philippines 55.1 55.3 55 55.3 1,560

OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS8.9 1.96 AG Finance Incorporated 2.9 2.95 2.88 2.95 85,0003.2 2.15 BDO Leasing and Finance Inc. 3 3.2 2.9 3.15 253,0002.69 1.11 Bright Kindle Res. and Investments Inc. 1.34 1.39 1.34 1.39 30,00017 13.9 COL Financial Group Inc. 14.32 14.4 14 14.12 33,6002.95 1.02 I-Remit Inc. 1.77 1.91 1.67 1.78 902,0000.88 0.35 MEDCO Holdings Inc. 0.5 0.55 0.5 0.52 2,679,000854 560 Manulife Financial Corp. 660 660 660 660 501.18 0.87 National Reinsurance Corp. of the Phils. 0.92 0.92 0.92 0.92 25,0001,899.00 1,000.00 Sun Life Financial Inc. 1,899.00 1,899.00 1,331.00 1,331.00 10361.2 232 The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc 274 275 273 273 6001.89 1.42 Vantage Equities Inc. 1.54 1.54 1.54 1.54 60,000

ELECTRICITY, ENERGY, POWER & WATER47 38.4 Aboitiz Power Corp. 42.75 43.2 42.75 43.05 1,984,4002.36 1.11 Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. 1.45 1.54 1.45 1.54 2,364,0009.13 5.14 Energy Development Corp. 5.69 5.73 5.5 5.6 4,948,30031.3 17.6 First Gen Corp. 20.15 20.5 20 20.2 684,900109 50.8 First Phil. Holdings Corp. 60 60.5 58.1 59.9 145,780343.8 260.4 Manila Electric Co. 320 332 320 330.2 730,35032 20 Manila Water Co. Inc. 26.65 26.9 26.4 26.6 1,986,70010.64 5.22 Petron Corp. 8.99 8.99 8.67 8.7 11,270,2004.4 2.95 Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. 3.71 3.75 3.7 3.7 72,0005.4 3.3 SPC Power Corp. 3.9 3.9 3.9 3.9 34,0002.58 1.65 Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Dev’t Corp. 2.18 2.25 2.18 2.23 8,497,000

FOOD, BEVERAGE & TOBACCO5.76 1.11 AgriNurture Inc. 5.42 5.75 5.29 5.73 2,779,6001.12 0.57 Alliance Select Foods Int’l Inc. 0.65 0.69 0.65 0.69 508,000200 71.55 Central Azucarera De Tarlac 185 185 185 185 25020.6 14.78 Century Pacific Food Inc. 17.56 17.7 17.5 17.6 160,10011.94 6.77 D and L Industries Inc. 8.35 8.45 8.2 8.45 11,169,10014 9.48 Del Monte Pacific Limited 11.4 11.46 11.4 11.46 12,00011.9 6.8 Emperador Inc. 7.29 7.31 7.29 7.3 740,600225 175.5 Jollibee Foods Corp. 220 223.8 219.6 222 2,039,58035 16.33 Liberty Flour Mills Inc. 27.45 29.5 27 29.5 9,60030.65 12.96 Max’s Group Inc. 16.18 16.2 16 16 585,5005 2.89 Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. 3.22 3.25 3.15 3.15 511,0006.08 3.3 RFM Corp. 3.84 3.88 3.84 3.86 147,000209.8 112.1 San Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc. 142 142 142 142 6600.215 0.128 Swift Foods Inc. 0.156 0.166 0.152 0.165 21,960,000234 170 Universal Robina Corp. 194 196.5 191 195.9 1,858,2004.94 4.1 Victorias Milling Co. Inc. 4.79 4.79 4.6 4.79 7,0000.84 0.55 Vitarich Corp. 0.64 0.64 0.62 0.64 941,000

CONSTRUCTION INFRASTRUCTURE & ALLIED SERVICES15.3 8.1 Asiabest Group International Inc. 10.4 10.7 10.4 10.52 3,70080 30.3 Concrete Aggregates Corp. “A” 68 68 65 65 5003.16 1.15 Da Vinci Capital Holdings Inc. 2.6 2.77 2.57 2.74 9,043,00010.68 4.54 EEI Corp. 7.01 7.15 6.87 7.1 512,70015.08 12 Holcim Philippines Inc. 13.6 13.8 13.6 13.8 1,355,10026.8 6.01 LBC Express Holdings Inc. 8.5 8.5 8.1 8.49 19,8008.43 5.1 Megawide Construction Corp. 5.8 5.9 5.8 5.9 1,00015 10.5 Phinma Corp. 11.2 11.5 11.2 11.5 45,5002.2 0.8 TKC Metals Corp. 1.31 1.38 1.21 1.25 606,0001.6 0.9 Vulcan Industrial and Mining Corp. 1.09 1.24 1.09 1.17 2,626,000

CHEMICALS300 90 Chemical Industries of the Phils. 96.2 97 96.2 97 203.33 1.5 Crown Asia Chemicals Corp. 2.28 2.3 2.12 2.18 1,127,0006.94 1.52 Mabuhay Vinyl Corp. 3.18 3.2 3.04 3.04 22,0004.5 1 Pryce Corp. 2.76 2.88 2.76 2.88 598,000

ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS & EQUIPMENT32.73 17.4 Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp. 18.38 19 18.22 18.9 418,40065.8 37 Concepcion Industrial Corp. 40 40 40 40 6006.98 4.8 Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. 5.52 5.59 5.31 5.48 41,7004.18 0.43 Ionics Inc. 2.33 2.52 2.33 2.48 10,269,0004.47 3.5 Panasonic Manufacturing Phils. Corp. 4.05 4.05 4.01 4.01 3,0003 1.29 Phoenix Semiconductor Philippines Corp. 1.77 1.84 1.75 1.75 462,000

OTHER INDUSTRIALS2.95 1.55 Splash Corp. 2.41 2.5 2.41 2.5 580,000

HOLDING FIRMS70.00 50.00 ABS-CBN Holdings Corp.-PDR 54.00 54.00 53.50 54.00 66,1507.25 5.81 A. Soriano Corp. 6 6 6 6 500,0000.49 0.27 AbaCore Capital Holdings Inc. 0.34 0.34 0.32 0.32 100,00059.2 50.05 Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. 57.55 58 57.45 57.8 695,10027.95 12.6 Alliance Global Group Inc. 14.56 14.56 14.46 14.5 9,162,9001.49 0.82 Anglo-Philippine Holdings Corp. 1.07 1.16 1.07 1.13 32,000823.5 600 Ayala Corp. 690 690 680 687 278,4809.78 6.35 Cosco Capital Inc. 7.19 7.25 7.18 7.2 923,10015.96 10.4 DMCI Holdings Inc. 12.5 12.6 12.14 12.3 8,657,8007.7 2.73 F and J Prince Holdings Corp. “A” 4.51 4.84 4.51 4.55 9,0007.6 2.85 F and J Prince Holdings Corp. “B” 4.36 4.36 4.36 4.36 1,3004.92 2.26 Filinvest Development Corp. 4.6 4.8 4.6 4.8 313,0000.48 0.173 Forum Pacific Inc. 0.227 0.235 0.226 0.226 500,0001,455.00 1,120.00 GT Capital Holdings Inc. 1,280.00 1,289.00 1,269.00 1,288.00 182,3607.5 5.18 House of Investments Inc. 5.85 5.85 5.85 5.85 10,0009.96 4.9 IPM Holdings Inc. 9.5 9.8 9.5 9.8 2,410,90076 56.9 JG Summit Holdings Inc. 67 68.7 66.65 68.5 2,698,23016.98 9.79 LT Group Inc. 16.02 16.1 16.02 16.1 538,5000.91 0.5 Lodestar Investment Hldgs Corp. 0.66 0.75 0.66 0.7 2,896,0009.25 5.03 Lopez Holdings Corp. 5.37 5.37 5.22 5.26 3,786,8006.09 4.2 Metro Pacific Investments Corp. 5.7 5.86 5.7 5.86 58,640,0000.058 0.026 Pacifica Inc. 0.033 0.033 0.031 0.032 33,900,0002.54 0.67 Prime Orion Philippines Inc. 2.25 2.25 2.01 2.01 11,919,000974 728 SM Investments Corp. 830 847 830 845 166,0501.1 0.61 SOCResources Inc. 0.77 0.77 0.74 0.77 200,00078.5 43.5 San Miguel Corp. 70 72 68.75 72 501,2701.48 0.97 Solid Group Inc. 1.06 1.06 1.05 1.05 310,000158 62.9 Top Frontier Investment Holdings Inc. 149.3 158 148 158 2,191,9700.66 0.225 Unioil Resources and Holdings Co. Inc. 0.3 0.32 0.3 0.31 6,810,0000.28 0.161 Wellex Industries Inc. 0.2 0.2 0.196 0.198 1,610,0000.35 0.2 Zeus Holdings Inc. 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 50,000

PROPERTY1.21 0.55 A Brown Co. Inc. 0.84 0.86 0.84 0.86 560,00012.16 5.72 Anchor Land Holdings Inc 7.05 7.05 7.05 7.05 1,1001.53 1.03 Araneta Properties Inc. 1.39 1.41 1.33 1.4 476,0000.31 0.18 Arthaland Corp. 0.219 0.23 0.219 0.23 30,00041.4 27.2 Ayala Land Inc. 32 32.4 31.9 32.05 15,295,8004.49 2.08 Belle Corp. 3.09 3.15 3.09 3.15 1,349,0005.59 4.2 Cebu Holdings Inc. 5.2 5.29 5.2 5.29 1,320,8000.98 0.4 Century Properties Group Inc. 0.57 0.57 0.56 0.56 1,128,0001.2 0.9 Cityland Development Corp. 0.97 0.97 0.95 0.97 33,0000.166 0.098 Crown Equities Inc. 0.129 0.134 0.127 0.132 27,180,0000.66 0.35 Cyber Bay Corp. 0.42 0.43 0.41 0.42 920,00026 7.64 DoubleDragon Properties Corp. 24.4 24.7 24.05 24.3 418,4001.02 0.67 Empire East Land Holdings Inc. 0.84 0.84 0.83 0.83 1,120,0000.239 0.137 Ever Gotesco Resources and Hold’gs Inc. 0.155 0.155 0.155 0.155 10,0002.1 1.32 Filinvest Land Inc. 1.52 1.54 1.5 1.52 16,651,0001.71 0.82 Global-Estate Resorts Inc. 0.91 0.92 0.9 0.91 1,532,0001.58 1.09 IRC Properties Inc. 1.27 1.28 1.22 1.28 609,0000.138 0.069 MRC Allied Inc. 0.086 0.088 0.085 0.085 1,310,0005.94 3 Megaworld Corp. 3.48 3.52 3.46 3.49 9,165,0000.38 0.195 Phil. Estates Corp. 0.23 0.23 0.228 0.228 140,0000.64 0.26 Philippine Realty and Holdings Corp. 0.41 0.45 0.41 0.45 820,0009.44 5.95 Primex Corp. 8.48 8.5 8.48 8.5 27,00033.25 22.8 Robinson Land Corp. 25.2 25.2 24.8 24.95 2,256,0001.86 1.3 Rockwell Land Corp. 1.49 1.5 1.47 1.49 161,00023.2 18.1 SM Prime Holdings Inc. 20.1 20.75 20.05 20.5 6,015,9004.9 2.7 Shang Properties Inc. 2.96 3.07 2.95 3.07 25,0001.02 0.64 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.77 0.79 0.77 0.79 991,0008.49 3.88 Starmalls Inc. 5.52 5.85 5.51 5.85 14,7001.75 0.65 Suntrust Home Developers Inc. 0.95 0.99 0.95 0.96 778,0008.59 3.54 Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc. 4.4 4.42 4.38 4.4 2,445,000

MEDIA68.1 53 ABS-CBN Corp. 54.2 54.2 54.05 54.1 43,3207.6 5.96 GMA Network Inc. 6.61 6.61 6.55 6.58 52,3007.45 5.92 GMA Holdings Inc. 6.77 6.77 6.77 6.77 1000.77 0.48 Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp. 0.56 0.59 0.56 0.58 11,000

TELECOMMUNICATIONS2,720.00 1,650.00 Globe Telecom Inc. 1,817.00 1,817.00 1,800.00 1,811.00 139,9455.2 1.95 Liberty Telecoms Holdings Inc. 4 4.04 3.97 4.04 99,0003,198.00 1,886.00 Phil. Long Distance Telephone Co. 2,232.00 2,252.00 2,220.00 2,228.00 137,060

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY7.4 4 DFNN Inc. 5.9 5.9 5.73 5.73 81,3001.88 1.11 ISM Communications Corp. 1.18 1.2 1.16 1.19 1,035,0000.34 0.107 Island Information and Technology Inc. 0.209 0.24 0.207 0.237 149,540,0000.4 0.245 Millenium Global Holdings Inc. 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.27 210,0001.29 0.4 Now Corp. 0.75 0.77 0.73 0.73 3,791,00028.5 12.8 Philweb Corp. 24.8 24.9 22 22 200,3002.05 1.4 Transpacific Broadband Group Int’l. Inc. 1.51 1.51 1.51 1.51 3,0005.2 1.22 Yehey! Corp. 4.63 4.63 4.61 4.61 27,000

TRANSPORTATION SERVICES11.6 5.71 2GO Group Inc. 6.9 7.05 6.9 6.95 44,00014.88 10 Asian Terminals Inc. 10.1 10.1 10.1 10.1 10099.5 74 Cebu Air Inc. 81.8 81.85 81.5 81.8 76,5101.78 1.08 Harbor Star Shipping Services Inc. 1.17 1.17 1.17 1.17 57,000114 55 Int’l Container Terminal Services Inc. 61 62.75 60.9 62 1,145,6802.55 1.8 Macroasia Corp. 2.42 2.47 2.4 2.45 63,0005.7 4 PAL Holdings Inc. 4.5 4.5 4.46 4.5 26,000

HOTEL & LEISURE0.121 0.036 Boulevard Holdings Inc. 0.054 0.055 0.053 0.054 13,790,000

EDUCATION12 8 Centro Escolar University 10 10 10 10 2001,200.00 830 Far Eastern University Inc. 960 960 960 960 4000.74 0.36 STI Education Systems Holdings Inc. 0.5 0.5 0.49 0.49 2,820,00012.5 10.1 iPeople Inc. 11.2 11.2 11.2 11.2 2,200

CASINOS & GAMING12.42 2.9 Bloomberry Resorts Corp. 4.3 4.33 4.15 4.15 3,828,0000.016 0.0053 IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.0094 0.0095 0.0094 0.0095 4,000,00010.82 6.56 Leisure and Resorts World Corp. 7.5 7.57 7.5 7.57 67,1002.07 1.8 Manila Jockey Club Inc. 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 10,00010.78 1.15 Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp. 2.08 2.1 2 2.05 16,904,0001.77 0.43 Premium Leisure Corp. 0.89 0.89 0.86 0.89 15,130,0007.63 3.18 Travellers Int’l. Hotel Group Inc. 3.75 3.75 3.74 3.74 212,000

RETAIL4.52 2.68 Calata Corp. 3.15 3.23 3.11 3.11 46,0004.49 2.9 Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. 3.5 3.51 3.48 3.49 260,00042 29.8 Puregold Price Club Inc. 33.6 34.1 33.6 33.75 2,018,30090.1 56 Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. 60.5 60.5 59.6 59.8 554,01010.98 2.38 SSI Group Inc. 3.75 3.76 3.62 3.62 2,853,000

OTHER SERVICES0.88 0.36 APC Group Inc. 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 132,0000.76 0.38 Premiere Horizon Alliance Corp. 0.4 0.41 0.39 0.41 21,520,0007.63 4.12 SBS Philippines Corp. 5 5 4.9 4.95 48,000

MINING0.0074 0.0038 Abra Mining and Industrial Corp. 0.0044 0.0044 0.0043 0.0043 95,000,0003.2 1.44 Apex Mining Co. Inc. 2.15 2.15 2.07 2.09 234,00010.12 3.9 Atlas Cons. Mining and Dev’t Corp. 4.36 4.4 4.35 4.36 90,0008.5 3.2 Benguet Corp. “B” 5 5 5 5 2,0001.19 0.45 Century Peak Metals Holdings Corp. 0.58 0.58 0.58 0.58 3,0000.98 0.27 Coal Asia Holdings Inc. 0.43 0.43 0.43 0.43 380,0009.65 5.28 Dizon Copper Silver Mines Inc. 7.26 7.44 7.26 7.26 33,3000.48 0.225 Geograce Resources Philippines Inc. 0.29 0.29 0.28 0.28 40,0002.98 0.46 Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. 0.71 0.72 0.68 0.69 12,794,0000.34 0.138 Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. “A” 0.3 0.3 0.29 0.3 28,270,0000.38 0.16 Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. “B” 0.3 0.31 0.3 0.3 7,990,0000.015 0.0095 Manila Mining Corp. “A” 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.012 37,600,0000.016 0.01 Manila Mining Corp. “B” 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.013 61,000,0006.08 1.36 Marcventures Holdings Inc. 1.86 1.89 1.82 1.87 499,0004.27 2 NiHAO Minerals Resources Int’l Inc. 2.48 2.5 2.38 2.46 6,00014.85 3.3 Nickel Asia Corp. 4.96 5.1 4.96 5.03 2,485,0000.78 0.44 Omico Corp. 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55 3,0002.42 0.81 Oriental Peninsula Resources Group Inc. 1.23 1.24 1.2 1.24 271,0008.5 3.75 Philex Mining Corp. 5.71 5.86 5.71 5.8 1,912,200169.6 110.8 Semirara Mining and Power Corp. 122.7 123 122.6 122.8 807,640

OIL0.28 0.18 Basic Energy Corp. 0.25 0.25 0.239 0.239 370,0005.58 2.61 Petroenergy Resources Corp. 3.56 3.56 3.56 3.56 1,0004.85 1.15 Philex Petroleum Corp. 1.88 1.91 1.75 1.77 3,845,0000.017 0.0085 The Philodrill Corp. 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 25,200,00012.8 1.68 Trans-Asia Petroleum Corp. 2.38 2.38 2.34 2.36 152,000

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PunitiveA CONTROVERSIALnew fee system inrelation to TerminalAppointment Book-ing System (TABS),an electronic plat-form to book con-tainers from the ma-jor ports of Manila, is set to be im-plemented by the government thisMarch through port terminal opera-tors International Container Termi-nal Services Inc. (ICTSI) and AsianTerminals Inc. (ATI).

Failure to pick up cleared cargo bythe second hour of allotted time willbe slapped a fee of P1,625 while “noshow” will cost P3,251. Trucks areconsidered on time if they arrive anhour before until an hour after thegate in slot, which means trucksshould be fielded within the hourwhen all the Bureau of Customsclearances had been secured.

While penalizing “no show” soundsonly rational, thereareconcerns that thepenalty for “late” pick-up is too punitive.

“This is highly improbable con-sidering the traffic congestion, evenif the truck is already in BOC gate,the queue and traffic will most prob-ably exceed one hour,” a source ex-plained, noting that customs bro-kers were thus up in arms on this is-sue of penalty for late pick-up.

Affected players also feel that this isan “unauthorized” charge, arguingthat there isn’t any executive order ormemorandum supporting such “un-reasonable” charging of trucks basedon a deadline that’s physically impossi-ble to comply with.

Customs Commissioner AlbertoLina, for his part, told Biz Buzz thatthe fee structure when it came toport operations was the domain ofthe Philippine Ports Authority (PPA),not BOC’s, noting that his agency’smandate was on duties and taxes.However, he said that when it cameto improving facilitation, the BOCcould exercise its “moral ascendan-cy” and influence how the systemcould be fine-tuned, such as in thecase of the fee structure.

The TABS system is still undergoingbirth pains in terms of implementationbut Lina gave his word that the govern-ment would review the small details.

While every player was still un-dergoing a lot of adjustments, Linasaid the endgame for TABS would beto distribute trucking movementwithin the 24 hours of the day, eas-ing the traffic flow of import/exportgoods, thereby eliminating the needfor truck bans and making the logis-tics system more efficient in thiscountry. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

The tax(wo)man comethOfficials of the Philippine CharitySweepstakesOffice (PCSO)havea lotofexplaining to do when the Bureau of In-ternal Revenue (BIR) finally begins itsprobe on billions of pesos in uncollectedand unpaid documentary stamp taxes

(DST) from small townlottery (STL) opera-tions.

Internal RevenueCommissioner KimHenares said theagency has notcleared PCSO of ac-

countability for allegedly failing tocollect and remit to BIR taxes thatwere supposed to be paid by privateSTL operators nationwide.

That statement from the feisty BIRchief comes on the heels of the stand ofPCSO general manager Jose Ferdi-nand Rojas II that the agency has re-ceived no adverse opinion from BIR asregards the DST issue.

But Henares minced no words insaying that PCSO is duty-bound tocollectandremit the taxesas thestatecharityarmis responsible for the tick-ets of the popular numbers game. Bysome estimates, the amount of PC-SO’s unremitted taxes from STL hasreached a staggering P3 billion—which is not “peanuts” for a gameironically called “small lottery.”

How the BIR will finally resolve thisthorny issue is of great public interest,especially with the agency’s firm standon collecting taxes even from interna-tional icons Manny “Pacman” Pacquiaoand recently crowned Miss UniversePia Wurtzbach. For more juicy tidbitson this unraveling saga, watch thisspace, people. Daxim L. Lucas

E-mail us at bizbuzz@inquir-er.com.ph. Get business alerts and a pre-view of Biz Buzz the evening before itcomes out. Text ON INQ BUSINESS to4467 (P2.50/alert).

By the staffBIZ BUZZ

$100-M laundering via PH banks … From page B1

this bank—or the central bank of thatcountry, itself—was hit by hackersbased in China,” said one bankingsource, relating a story that was cor-roborated by at least three rankinggovernment officials and four otherbankers. “Somehow, those funds foundtheir way into the Philippine financialsystem.”

This was acknowledged by rankingofficials at the Anti-Money LaunderingCouncil (AMLC) who said that an in-vestigation was ongoing as to the ex-

tent of the laundering activity, indicat-ing that larger sums and other partiesmight be uncovered as part of the on-going probe.

Since learning about the story, theINQUIRER agreed to the request of anAMLC official to hold off on its publica-tion by several days to allow the groupto uncover more details about the op-eration and take the appropriate actionagainst the suspects.

Details gathered by the INQUIRER

from several government and banking

sources showed that the suspected il-licit funds first entered the Philippinefinancial system through a Makati Citybranch of Rizal Commercial BankingCorp. through a transaction handledby one of its branch managers with for-eign exchange broker Philrem.

Once converted into pesos, thefundswereconsolidated fromfive indi-vidual bank accounts into a single cor-porate account of a Chinese-Filipinobusinessman who runs a “junket oper-ation” flying in high networth gam-blers from overseas to play in localcasinos.

A ranking RCBC official told the IN-QUIRER that the bank immediately filedwhat is called a suspicious transactionreport with AMLC once its officials gotwind of the activity, thus alerting regu-lators. This was in addition to an noticesent to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinasby its foreign counterpart warningabout the illicit funds.

According to banking and gamingindustry sources, the funds are ownedby a Macau-based client of the junketoperator. These funds were used to ei-ther “buy chips” or “pay for casino loss-es” incurred at Solaire Resort and Casi-no, City of Dreams Manila and MidasHotel and Casino, the sources said.

“In fact, that client is in town rightnow and playing at our tables this verymoment,” a source at one of the casi-nos told the INQUIRER last Friday.

Another industry source said thefunds were soon moved back to bankaccounts overseas.

Other local banks mentioned bysources in the courseof the probe arePhilippine NationalBank, which holds thecorporate funds of theChinese-Filipino jun-ket operator, and Ban-co De Oro UniversalBank, whose only par-ticipation, accordingto an official, was toremit the sum of $1.5million to a bank ac-count in Hong Kongas part of its regulardealingswithPhilrem,an accredited remit-tance partner of thebank. BDO was notcited for any violationby authorities.

“What regulatorsare now looking at iswhether the financialinstitutions involvedfollowed the know-your-customer rule inhandling these funds,”the source said. “It’s abig amount. Underthe law, they weresupposed to askedtheir client where themoney came from be-fore accepting it.”

Contacted by theINQUIRER, a rankingAMLC official said theprobe of the transac-tion was ongoing.

THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2016 PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

BUSINESSB 1

Mobile Alert: Text INQ ON BUSINESS to 4467 Website: business.inquirer.net E-mail: business@inquirer.com.ph

Text us your feedback: inquirer biz name/age/city/message to 4467 Twitter: @InquirerBiz

Editor Raul O. Marcelo • Business News Editor Corrie S. Narisma

INDICATORS

46.50

47.00

47.50

48.00

48.5019 22 23 26 29 1 2

PESO-DOLLAR RATE

47.295

FEBRUARY

(See stock market report on Page B2)

7,250

7,000

6,750

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6,250

March 2, 2016

STOCK MARKETMarch 2, 2016

152.92PSE COMPOSITE INDEX

19 22 23 26 29 1 2

AMLC freezes suspected laundering accountsBy Daxim L. Lucas

THE ANTI-MONEY Laundering Council (AMLC) hasimplemented a freeze order on several bank ac-counts suspected of being linked to a money AMLC/ B3

IN THIS ISSUE

� Socio-economicprogram donors offeredtax perks /B4

El Niño damagerises to P4.77BBy Ronnel W. Domingo

THE DAMAGE to Philippine farms went upfurther to P4.77 billion as more food pro-ducers reported losses during the past twomonths when the El Niño was at its peak.

Agriculture Undersecretary Emerson U.Palad, chief of the DA’s field operations ser-vices, said in a briefing that the phe-nomenon’s toll on the sector in January andFebruary alone was P1.34 billion.

“This involves a total of 54,619 farmersworking on 76,593 hectares of farms and lost125,133 tons of produce,” Palad said.

Of the total area affected so far this year,crops in 31,349 hectares were consideredhaving a chance of recovery.

Palad added that close to two-thirds of to-tal damage value incurred in the past twomonths—which represented the planting pe-riod for this year’s dry season crop—wereP864.37 million worth of palay.

Also, insufficient rainfall claimed P477.48million of corn and P2.1 million worth ofhigh-value crops, including various vegeta-bles.

Sustaining the biggest amounts of dam-age were Northern Mindanao where12,350 farmers lost P358.4 million worthof crops and Western Visayas with P356.6million.

In terms of population, the AutonomousRegion in Muslim Mindanao reported themost number of affected farmers at 16,347incurring losses of P214.6 million.

Even with the past two months accountingfor 28 percent of total farm damage from theongoing El Niño, Palad reiterated the DA’spronouncement that damage was “minimal.”

Stocks end higherPHILIPPINE stocks rose yesterday,bolstered by improving sentimentsglobally, given positive economic reportscoming out of the United States andAustralia. Asian stocks also gainedyesterday.

The benchmark Philippine StockExchange index (PSEi) was up 2.27 percent,or 152.92 points, to 6,882.45. The broaderall-shares index was also higher by 1.74percent to 3,986.75.

Gains were across the board, with allsub-sectors closing higher. Outperformingother indices were services, up 3 percent, aswell as property and holding firms, up 2.64percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, datafrom the PSE showed.

A total of 2.99 billion shares valued atP9.42 billion changed hands yesterday.There were 117 gainers versus 71 declinerswhile 29 companies closed unchanged.

Henry Sy’s SM Investments Corp. wasthe most actively traded company yesterday.It closed up 2.68 percent to P900.50 ashare.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.,after a two-day selloff, bounced higher by3.93 percent to P1,824 a share. Miguel R.

Camus

laundering transaction worth as much as$100 million—said to be the single largesttransaction of “dirty money” uncovered inthe country.

INQUIRER sources said the AMLC sent freezeorders to several financial institutions forseveral bank accounts that effectively

stopped the movement of funds into or out ofthem.

“AMLC sent [banks] a list of accounts [onTuesday] ordering a freeze on all activities inthem,” the source said, requesting anonymi-ty because of the sensitivity of the ongoing

� 7 foreign airlines takecloser look at Clark /B3

3BTHURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2016

PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

BUSINESSCash and burn

JUST recently, the New People’sArmy (NPA) reportedly stepped uptheir attacks on pineapple and ba-nana plantations in Mindanao,mostly the areas operated by agrari-an reform beneficiaries (ARBs).

While the attacks caught the atten-tion of some media outfits in Min-danao, the reports hardly moved theAquino (Part II) administration into ac-tion.

Most of the ARBs used to be mereworkers in those plantations. Theythen became owners of the landthrough the government land reformprogram, although they continued towork in the plantations under certaindeals with multinational companies,such as contract growing or lease back.Those deals secured for the ARBs aready market for their produce.

According to reports by media out-fits in Mindanao, the NPAs burned four“Martignani” spray trucks, an entirewarehouse in a packing compoundand other unspecified heavy equip-ment—all in less than a month.

Those attacks reportedly took placein eight different plantations in Bukid-non, Agusan del Norte and SouthCotabato—precisely where multina-tional firms Dole and Del Monte oper-ated.

There seemed to be a thunderousmessage in those attacks, perhaps di-rected by the NPA and National Demo-cratic Front, especially to the Aquino(Part II) administration.

For one, the number of attacks bythe NPAs in one month already sur-passed their attacks on the banana andpineapple plantations in the entire2015.

Moreover, the intensified attacks bythe NPAs happened in the days leadingto the 30th anniversary of the EdsaPeople Power, which the boys of ourleader, Benigno Simeon aka BS, triedto play up in their media campaignsagainst the evils of martial rule underformer President Ferdinand Marcos.

It seemed, therefore, that the insur-gency problem became worse underthis administration than what the boysof our leader BS would want us to be-lieve.

Those poor ARBs that were just try-ing to make a living suffered lossesfrom those attacks.

It seemed the NPA, as a group, stillimposed what for decades has been

known to businesses—small and bigalike—as the principled sounding “rev-olutionary tax.”

The government, of course, viewedit as outright extortion.

Anyway, in the countryside like inthe banana and pineapple plantationsin Mindanao, the NPAs would oftenterrorize businessmen who would nothonor the “tax,” simply by holdingsome “barbeque parties”—a term re-portedly used by one NPA member.

They burned equipment or facilitiesworth millions of pesos to disrupt theoperations of the businesses, thus forc-ing them to pay up eventually.

Last year, the NPAs reportedly at-tacked large plantations in Mindanaoevery month from January to Novem-ber—as if on schedule.

And they burned expensive heavyequipment, container vans and cargotrucks (loaded with produce) in vari-ous parts of Mindanao, such as T’boliand Surallah in South Cotabato;Barobo and Lianga in Surigao del Sur;Quezon in Bukidnon; Maco in Com-postela Valley; and Maasim inSarangani Province.

From what I gathered, the attacksabated sometime in December, per-haps due to the yearly ceasefire be-tween the NPAs and the military.

The stepped-up attacks early thisyear have sowed fear among theARBs.

The ARBs reportedly feared the NPAattacks would force the multinationalsrelocate their operations toother coun-tries, which have actually been dyingfor a bite of the lucrative fruit marketsin Asia and the Middle East.

And so the ARBs appealed, at first,to the NPAs.

A text blast to the ARBs, purportedlycoming from the insurgents, read:

“Warm greetings from the freedomfighters. The opportunistic big corpo-rations here in Bukidnon have alreadyfelt the presence of the army of themasses. This is not yet enough becausethe destruction of the environment still

continues. We will achieve victory thisyear. We will continue our attacks untilwe topple down these capitalists. Ifyou workers will lose your jobs for ashort period, we call on you to sacrificefor true unity. We need to shut downthese big corporations who have beenoppressing us for the longest time. Letus stand for conformity, justice andtrue reform.”

There—the poor farmers in Min-danao must sacrifice!

In other words, if they would losetheir livelihood with the closure of theplantations, seemingly the objective ofthe insurgents, they just would haveno means to feed their families or sendtheir children to school or pay for theirmedical needs.

Like it or not, the most affected sec-tor of the insurgency in Mindanao wasthe hundreds of thousands of farmworkers in the plantations—not themultinational companies and their ex-ecutives.

With the renewed NPA attacks earlythis year, the ARBs reportedly ap-pealed to the Aquino (Part II) adminis-tration to do something about them.

Well, the statistics could be down-right frightening.

Let us not even talk about the rev-enues the government would lose withthe collapse of the agro-industries inMindanao, such as property taxes,business permits, VAT and income tax-es.

It was just that the banana planta-tions in Mindanao, for instance, cover-ingabout83,000hectares, areestimat-ed to employ more than 330,000 indi-viduals—meaning, the plantationssupport something like 2 million peo-ple.

That would be the number of peo-ple who would have to sacrifice!

By the way, the insurgents warnedthe banana plantations against the useof aerial spray planes, threatening toshoot down their aircraft.

From what I gathered, they have ac-tually strafed one plane and advisedthe pilots of the aircraft to look for oth-er jobs.

That our leader BS would do some-thing about the renewed attacks by theNPAs in Mindanao, could be just be an-other exercise in wistful thinking.

After all, Mindanao historically ac-counted for only about 60 percent ofthe country’s agricultural exports.

Conrado R.Banal III

BREAKTIME

7 foreign airlines takecloser look at ClarkBy Miguel R. Camus

MORE foreign carriers are considering set-ting up hubs in Clark International Airportin Pampanga, which has been struggling toincrease traffic in recent years, its state-runoperator said yesterday.

Clark International Airport Corp. CEOEmigdio Tanjuatco III said seven more in-ternational airlines had expressed their in-tention to “look at” Clark.

These are Taiwanese low-cost carrier V-Air, Jet Star of Singapore, regional carrierThai Smile, Malaysia’s Rayani Air, ExpressAir of Indonesia, Air India and Airline 4.0, anew carrier in the United States.

“At the very most, these airlines can nowsee Clark Airport on paper and, hopefully,we can lure some of them to try Clark, aswell as to increase flights,” Tanjuatco saidin a statement.

These airlines are among the 17 carriersset to visit Clark International Airport onMarch 5. The airport operator is scheduledto showcase Clark Airport’s facilities and in-frastructure in a bid to lure more flights tothe 2,367-hectare Civil Aviation Complex.

Clark now hosts Qatar Airways, AsianaAirlines, Dragonair, Jin Air, Cebgo, Tiger Air

of Singapore, Air Asia Berhad and Cebu Pa-cific Air.

The air gateway, which handles about1.3 million passengers a year, is strugglingto lure passengers and carriers due to itsdistance from Metro Manila.

CIAC said earlier it was seeking to doubleClark Airport’s annual passenger traffic tothree million in two years as it targetedmarkets outside Metro Manila.

It noted that about 1.5 million passen-gers coming from Regions 1, 2, 3 and theNorthern part of National Capital Regionpreferring the Ninoy Aquino InternationalAirport only because “they were not awarethere is Clark International Airport.”

A study by the Japan International Coop-eration Agency pointed to continuedgrowth for Clark.

“While NAIA’s capacity is getting saturated,the functions of the two gateway airports ofNAIA and Clark should be urgently strength-ened and integrated by clarifying their rolesand improving access to and between theseairports,” Jica and the National Economic andDevelopment Authority noted in a report.

The report showed Clark Airport’s pas-senger traffic would hit 2.6 million by 2020and 9.2 million by 2040.

AMLC freezes …probe.

At the same time, however, banking offi-cials familiar with the issue expressed doubtsif authorities would be able to seize the bulkof the funds suspected to have been obtainedthrough illegal means abroad, given that themoney was suspected to have entered the lo-cal financial system as early as the first weekof February and may have already been with-drawn within a few days.

“It looks like the funds have already beenrepatriated overseas by this time,” said an-other banking source familiar with the issue.

The INQUIRER earlier reported that as muchas $100 million in allegedly illicit funds en-tered the local financial system through aninward remittance that was processed at aMakati branch of Rizal Commercial BankingCorp., then converted to pesos with the helpof a foreign exchange and remittance firmcalled Philrem, and then transferred to So-laire, Midas and City of Dreams for the use ofa Macau-based client of a Filipino-Chinesejunket operator.

Regulators were alerted to its suspiciousorigins when foreign governments alertedthe Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas that themoney might have been obtained through

fraud committed by computer hackers inBangladesh. A ranking RCBC official alsosaid that the bank filed suspicious transac-tion reports once it got wind of the transfer.

Meanwhile, the state-owned PhilippineAmusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) yes-terday said there were sufficient safeguardsin the casino industry to prevent money laun-dering and shifted the spotlight on banks,saying financial institutions should havemore stringent “know-your-customer” rules.

In a statement, Pagcor said it started itsown investigation last Feb. 29 after a reporton the alleged money laundering activity waspublished in the INQUIRER.

“Pagcor expects the casinos to submit theircomments on the allegation as an initial stepin the investigation within this week,” thestatement from the gaming regulator said,adding that “as a matter of regulation, Pagcorrequires casinos to employ strict internalcontrol policies on funds movements and is-suances of playing chips.”

“In addition, casinos implement ‘knowyour customer’ protocols particularly with re-gard to high-value patrons,” it added.“Records of financial transactions are avail-able for scrutiny by Pagcor on demand.”

From page B1

Shell Eco-marathon Asia fuels T.I.P.students' passion for innovation

Attracting hundreds of top engineering schoolsin the Asia-Pacific region, the Shell Eco-marathon Asia is an annual competition whichchallenges student teams to design, build, test,and drive vehicles that can travel the farthestwith only one liter of fuel.

At the Technological Institute of thePhilippines (T.I.P.), students use theirengineering knowledge and technical skills tocontinuously push the boundaries of innovationand ingenuity and come up with excellent fuel-efficient cars.

From research and design, to fabrication,assembly, and test run, T.I.P. students fromdifferent engineering disciplines develop newtechnologies and ingenious ways to improve theperformance of their participating vehicles.

For T.I.P. Manila Mileage Teamcommunications officer Arzen Ann ChristineCaguitla, competing in the Shell Eco-marathonAsia is an ongoing innovation process, a creativeexercise for future engineers. "The fuel mileagecontest helps us channel our passion forinnovation into inventions that can help thefuture of smarter mobility," she said.

The Mileage Team is again competing in theUrban Concept Diesel category with their morelightweight and aerodynamic car dubbed "Apex"sporting a carbon fiber body and a brand newengine.

"We are also working on a device that cantransmit real-time data of our vehicle's engineperformance to a computer so we canimmediately make adjustments in case weencounter problems," said Edward Rivera Jr.,Mileage team manager.

For Engr. Nicanor Serrano, Mileage teamadviser, engine lubrication is still one of the keysto making a strong run in the Shell Eco-marathon. "Our innovation in using oils andautomatic lubricating systems to lessen enginefriction is what got us the Shell Tribology awardlast year. I think we can still capitalize on this forthis year's competition," he said.

In 2015, the T.I.P. Mileage Team took homethe Shell Helix Tribology award for applyinglubrication engineering principles that enabledtheir vehicle to run 71 kilometers on a liter of fueland be the only Philippine team to place amongthe top 5 finishers in the Urban Concept Diesel

category.At T.I.P. Quezon City, the GTE-Efficacy Team is

eager to compete anew in the Urban ConceptAlternative Fuels category with their much-improved Prevo 5 car that runs on compressednatural gas (CNG), an environment-friendly fuelthat is locally-produced at the onshore gas plantof the Malampaya Deep-water Gas-to-Powerproject.

"Our urge for innovation has led us to developa car that runs on CNG but can also be easilyconverted to run on other fuel sources," saidEngr. Sonny Banaag, GTE-Efficacy team adviser.

Compared to its predecessors, the Prevo 5sports a new engine and a more aerodynamicfiber glass body that features a semi-monocoque design. "We shifted to a design thatuses less body frame to make the car lighter, sowe can save more fuel while going further," saidGTE Efficacy team manager Prince Ramos.

Their passion for innovation also extends toimprovements on safety which is the team's toppriority. "We added sensors inside the enginethat would enable an on-board computer to shutdown the fuel system and engine in case of aproblem," Ramos added.

Engr. Banaag credits the team's continuousdesire to change technology through T.I.P.'sOutcomes-based Teaching and Learning (OBTL)method, Outcomes-based Educationimplemented on classroom level.

"With OBTL, T.I.P. students are able to applyclassroom learnings to the real world. The ShellEco-marathon is a good opportunity for them toshowcase how they think out of the box. Thismakes the Prevo 5 their best engineeringproject," Engr. Banaag said.

Outside of the Shell Eco-marathon Asia, T.I.P.students turn their appetite for innovation intoother similarly relevant social projects. "We aredesigning a solar-powered banca that could helplessen the dependence of fishermen on fuel torun their boats," said GTE-Efficacy teamsecretary Ed Orlan-Ramirez.

With their passion for innovation expected toreach new heights at the Shell Eco-marathonAsia, T.I.P. students of the Mileage Team and theGTE-Efficacy Team are definitely on their way tohelping make a difference in fuel conservationand smarter mobility in the real world.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016 H H 5 SECTIONS / VOL. 31 / NO. 110 P18ePaper: http://inq.ph/inquirerepaper

viber.com/inquirer

Philippine DailyInquirer (Official)

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Radyo Inquirer@dzIQ990

WHAT’S INSIDE

41

UNDER CONTROL Trekkers who evacuated Mt. Apo on Sunday watch from a safe distance smoke from the fire raging in the northwestern side of the country’s highest peak. The forest fire that started onSaturday has already been contained, according to city officials. (See story in Across the Nation, Page A15.) RYAN MARK ASTURIAS/CONTRIBUTOR

NO SECRETS Chinese businessman Kim Wong is scheduled to “to tellall” today at the Senate blue ribbon committee’s third hearing on theheist. Wong operates the Eastern Hawaii Leisure Corp. casino in Cagayan.

MARCOS IN AQUINO COUNTRY Vice presidential candidate Sen. Bongbong Marcos takes hiscampaign to the Aquinos’ hometown during the Radyo Inquirer Issues Forum at Tarlac State Universitygymnasium in Tarlac City. In the event were senatorial candidates Risa Hontiveros, Samuel Pagdilao andDionisio Santiago. (See story on Page A4.) RICHARD A. REYES

ENTERTAINMENT3 things thatAlden Richards can’tlive without / D4METRO‘Jejemon’ bombhoax leads to Ateneolockdown / A8

LEARNING‘Larawan’ inspiresus to remember,to sing / E1

LIFESTYLEThe Philippinesis now a diabetescapital / C3

BUSINESSBidding for Lagunadike project fails / B1

OPINIONPolitical dynastiesgalore / A12

DAX

IMLU

CAS

Kim Wong to name brainsHe identifies them as ‘Mr. D’ and ‘Mr. J.’

Caveman’s bestfriends? PreservedIce Age puppies

At the same time, the 54-year-old Chinese businessmandenied involvement in the au-dacious $951-million electronicheist on the Bangladesh Bank’soffshore bank accounts and thesubsequent attempt to move thefunds to third countries, someof which slipped through theantimoney laundering mecha-nisms of Rizal CommercialBanking Corp. (RCBC).

“I am not involved in moneylaundering,” Wong said in aninterview with the INQUIRER yes-

By Aie Balagtas See, DJ Yap,Maricar Brizuela, Christine O.Avendaño and Jovic Yee

THE CIRCUS came to Manila,Makati and other cities andtowns across the country yester-day, with former President andreelectionist Manila MayorJoseph Estrada endorsing Sen.Grace Poe for the presidentialrace.

At Plaza Miranda in Quiapo,Manila, entertainers did imper-

Faces behindfictitious bankaccounts known

By Daxim L. LucasBusiness

KIM WONG—the operator of the country’s largestcasino junket operation—has vowed to identifythe person whom he believes is the mastermindbehind the $81-million money laundering contro-versy when he testifies before the Senate blue rib-bon committee today.

Erap endorses Grace;Binays rally in Makati

By Doris Dumlao-AbadillaBusiness

YUCHENGCO-led Rizal Com-mercial Banking Corp. has iden-tified two of the faces behindthe fictitious bank accountsused to bring to the country $81million in dirty money stolen bycomputer hackers from the cen-tral bank of Bangladesh.

One of them was identified asa reserve officer of RCBC whowas likewise being investigated

MOSCOW—The hunters searching for mam-moth tusks were drawn to the steep riverbankby a deposit of ancient bones. To their aston-ishment, they discovered an Ice Age puppy’ssnout peeking out from the permafrost.

Five years later, a pair of puppies perfectlypreserved in Russia’s northeast region ofYakutia and dating back 12,460 years has mo-bilized scientists across the world.

FACES / A16

CAVEMAN’S / A16

ERAP / A10

KIM / A16

Deguito may be a no-show,says lawyer •Bankers

discuss ways to cut dirtymoney flow / A16

sonations of Estrada, a rival ofAlfredo Lim, who is seeking areturn to City Hall for a fifthterm.

“Forgive me, Mayor Lim, I’mall bluster. I came here to tellthe people to vote for you in-stead,” said a member of thePakyaw duo, eliciting mostlaughs from the crowd at therally of the Liberal Party (LP).

The duo also impersonated for-mer President Fidel Ramos and

Cabinet man, mom get 10 yrs for graft

CABINET/ A11

By Marlon Ramos

A MEMBER of PresidentAquino’s Cabinet has beenfound guilty of graft and couldgo to prison, a developmentthat may help blunt criticismsthat the administration’s anti-corruption campaign is target-ing only those who do not be-

long to the ruling party.“While I don’t want to use

[his] name, this is proof thatjustice under the daangmatuwid (straight path) is non-partisan,” Liberal Party (LP)standard-bearer Mar Roxassaid, in reference to the Presi-dent’s governance slogan.

Nereus Acosta, presidential

adviser for environmental pro-tection, was sentenced to up to10 years in prison by the Sandi-ganbayan yesterday for allocat-ing P5.5 million of his pork bar-rel to a foundation owned by hisfamily when he was a Bukidnonrepresentative in 2006.

The antigraft court’s fourth divi-

3 out of 4 Filipinos preferto work in hometownsBy Jocelyn R. Uy

BELIEVE IT or not but more Fil-ipinos prefer working in theirhometowns than move else-where in the country like MetroManila for more promising em-ployment opportunities.

Results of an online survey

showed that three out of fourlocally employed Filipinoswould accept jobs in their homeregion rather than work in an-other part of the country.

Two out of three Filipinosare also currently working intheir localities, according to

3 OUT OF 4 / A10

TRANSGENDER/ A11

Transgender bet worrieswhich ‘CR’ to use in HouseBy Greg RefraccionInquirer Central Luzon

ORANI, Bataan—A 49-year-old transgen-der woman who is seeking Bataan’s firstcongressional district seat says she has oneoverriding concern if she becomes the firstopenly LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual andtransexual) lawmaker.

“My problem upon reaching Congress iswhich comfort room (toilet) I am allowed

16A TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2016

PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

NEWS

Deguito may be a no-show, says lawyer

Caveman’s best friends? Preserved Ice Age puppies

Kim Wong to name brainsterday. “As far as I am con-cerned, the money from abroadthat reaches us in the casinobusiness has already clearedtwo levels of controls: the banksand the money changers.”

The local casino industryrarely asks its clients about theprovenance of their funds, saidWong, especially from so-called“high-rollers” who regularlybring in and gamble with “bil-lions of pesos,” and assumes ingood faith that the money isclean once it clears stringent an-timoney laundering safeguardsof the banking system.

Speaking in Filipino and En-glish, Wong declined to identifythe person who he suspects hadbrought the alleged dirty moneyinto the country. He said he didnot want to preempt today’s Sen-ate hearing—but referred to anearlier INQUIRER report that point-ed to one of his clients in the casi-no junket business as the personwho may be behind the scheme.

“I will reveal the names at theSenate,” he said, explainingthat he had already adopted ahabit of referring to the partiesinvolved as “Mr. D” and “Mr. J.”

The INQUIRER learned that theperson Wong referred to Mr. J wasa longtime business associate—acasino junket agent scouting forhigh-networth clients—who hadbeen dealing with Wong for sev-eral years now. Mr. J’s clients in-curred large casino losses in late2014, after which he ended upowing Wong P450 million. Mr. Jlater introduced Wong to Mr. Dwho promised to bring in funds toinvest in the Philippines and, atthe same time, help pay off thedebts to the junket operator.

When asked whether he was

aware that the funds were sus-pected to have come from theelectronic heist on theBangladesh central bank, Wongsaid he did not know where hisclients got their funds.

“All I was told was that he wasgoing to bring in investments,and that the debt to me wouldfinally get paid,” he said.

Wong said he had full docu-mentation to support hisclaims—including copies of traveldocuments of everyone involvedin the scheme and financialrecords of where the funds went.He added that he would cooper-ate fully and willingly with thegovernment in its bid to get to thebottom of the controversy.

The INQUIRER had earlier re-ported that one of Wong’s clients,a Macau-based casino player,was responsible for bringing thefunds into the country.

“I want to help the governmentby telling them what I know, andto clear my name,” he said,adding that all his personal andcorporate bank accounts hadbeen frozen by the Anti-MoneyLaundering Council which hasfiled a complaint against him inthe Department of Justice for al-leged money-laundering offenses.

During the hourlong inter-view, Wong confirmed the state-ment of RCBC president andCEO Lorenzo Tan that they kneweach other “socially.” Wong saidhe met Tan when Tan was stillthe head of the Philippine Na-tional Bank “many years ago.”

He also confirmed knowingChinese-Filipino businessmanWilliam So Go.

But like Tan and Go duringthe previous Senate hearings,Wong pointed to former RCBCJupiter St. branch manager Ma-ia Santos-Deguito as having fa-cilitated the entry of the al-legedly stolen funds into thecountry’s financial system.

“Dinamay lang siya dito (Hewas just linked to this),” Wongsaid, when asked if he believedthat the RCBC president-on-leave had countenanced thescheme as Deguito had allegedin her Senate testimony.

Wong—who flew to HongKong for a trip with his familyand Singapore for a medicalcheckup early this month be-fore he was summoned by theSenate—said he is a Chinesenational, having been born inHong Kong and moving to thePhilippines as a young boy.

He grew up in the Philippinesand was first involved in thegarments industry, and eventu-ally opened a chain of seafoodrestaurants, including the pop-ular “Pantalan,” near QuirinoGrandstand in Manila.

He started in the casino andjunket operations business in2005, and opened EasternHawaii Leisure Corp. in the Ca-gayan Economic Zone Authori-ty in Santa Ana, Cagayan, in2006. As his business of flyingin foreign casino players grew,Wong rented space at MidasHotel along Roxas Boulevard inPasay City, where his high-rollers from overseas couldplay. He said he also broughtclients to Solaire when theyasked for it.

“My businesses have been af-fected, and all my clients havewithdrawn their funds,” he said,adding that the average monthlyturnover of up to P13 billion forhis junket operation busi-ness—the biggest registeredwith the Philippine Amusementand Gaming Corp.—has all butdried up since the controversybroke. “This is a legitimate busi-ness. I’ve been losing a lot ofmoney.”

Bankers discuss waysto cut dirty money flowBy Doris Dumlao-Abadilla,Daxim L. Lucas and Ben de VeraBusiness

AHEAD of today’s Senate blueribbon committee hearing on thestolen $81 million that slippedthrough the cracks of the local fi-nancial system, the banking in-dustry yesterday met with regu-lators to brainstorm on ways tocut off the pipeline of dirty mon-ey into the country and betterpolice bank employees.

As authorities probe deeper intothe Bangladesh bank heist, thebanking industry discussed the an-timoney laundering framework,cybersecurity issues, people risk,the foreign exchange black marketand the setting up of an electronicnational payment system.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas(BSP) Governor Amando Tetang-co Jr., BSP Deputy GovernorNestor Espenilla Jr. and the BSPsupervision and examinationsector met with the new board ofthe Bankers Association of thePhilippines (BAP). Espenilla saidthe meeting was to “map out re-form priorities with universalcommercial banks and maximizecooperation opportunities.”

“We do this regularly with allnew bank industry associations.Besides, it’s Easter. (It’s a) newbeginning,” Espenilla said.

Other banking sources saidthe entry into the country ofmoney stolen from the centralbank of Bangladesh raised freshconcerns on how to weed out“black sheep” employees andprevent bank staff from beinglured by the underworld.

The banking industry is also un-der challenge to exercise greaterdue diligence on remittance com-panies and their clients.

Now under scrutiny amid therecent money laundering trans-action that used fictitious ac-counts set up at Rizal Commer-cial Banking Corp.’s JupiterStreet branch is remittance firmPhilrem, the company that actedas a courier to transfer most ofthe $81 million dirty money tolocal casinos and other entities.Philrem’s head, Salud Bautista,has said Philrem did not knowthat the funds had been stolenfrom Bangladesh and added thather company had only taken or-ders from RCBC branch manag-er Maia Santos-Deguito—who isnow facing money-launderingcharges filed by the Anti-MoneyLaundering Council.

LiberalizationLikewise cited as a priori-

ty—pending the tightening ofantimoney laundering rulesthat still need to pass throughCongress—is the liberalizationof the undocumented foreignexchange limit to discourage le-gitimate foreign exchange dealsfrom going into the “black mar-ket”—or foreign exchange bro-kerage or money changers out-side the formal banking system.

“The BSP requested the BAPboard for a recommendation onfurther foreignexchange relaxationwith attendant safeguards,” saidone banker privy to the meeting.

The BAP’s open market com-mittee tasked to look into thematter is proposing an increasein the amount of foreign ex-change that banks can sell to resi-

From page A1

Faces behind fake bank accounts knownby the bank for allegedly aidingthe RCBC Jupiter branch man-ager in bringing in the funds, aMarch 28 report submitted byRCBC to the Anti-Money Laun-dering Council (AMLC) claimed.

“The BIR ID (TIN No.755-265-123-000) of JessieChristopher Magno Lagrosas,bears the picture of Mr. AdrianRanas Yujuico, reserve officer ofRCBC,” RCBC antimoney laun-dering lawyer Ronald AllanAbarquez said in the report tothe AMLC.

“We are also investigating himfor active collusion with Ms Ma-ia Deguito (RCBC Jupiterbranch manager) as he arrangedand organized meetings for MsDeguito in his house, where wit-nesses have tagged her as hav-ing made offers of money and le-gal assistance to the personnelof the branch,” Abarquez said.

The same letter said the non-professional drivers’ licenseused to create the account underthe name of Michael FranciscoCruz bore the picture of a seniormanager from another bank.

It was not clear, however,whether the person whose pic-ture was used to create the Cruzaccount was aware that his facehad been used in this suspicioustransaction.

The Lagrosas account re-ceived $30 million—the biggestshare of the $81 million fromBangladesh on Feb. 5. The mon-ey was wired from the US Fed-eral Reserve of New York ac-count of the Bangladesh centralbank through correspondentBank of New York Mellon.

The Cruz account received$6 million on the same daythrough Wells Fargo New York.

The AMLC earlier chargedRCBC branch manager Degui-to—along with “John Does” us-ing the aliases in the fictitiousaccounts—with violation of theantimoney laundering law.

Apart from IDs which RCBCand authorities both determinedto be “fictitious,” false addresseswere likewise used to create theLagrosas and Cruz accounts.Based on the documents filed atRCBC Jupiter, Cruz claimed toreside at 261 Banaba St. ForbesPark, Makati City, while La-grosas’ alleged address was 436San Joaquin St. San Jose Village,Alabang, Muntinlupa City.

Two other fictitious bank ac-counts were under the names ofAlfred Santos Vergara and Enri-co Teodoro Vasquez, whoseRCBC Jupiter bank accounts re-spectively received $20 millionand $25 million in suspiciousremittance from Bangladesh.

The bank accounts under the

names of Lagrosas, Cruz, Ver-gara and Vasquez were createdon May 15, 2015, with initialdeposit of $500 each. These ac-counts remained untouched un-til the remittance fromBangladesh came.

On the same day that the re-mittance came from Bangladeshon Feb. 5, “Lagrosas” made anover-the-counter withdrawalamounting to $22 million. On thesame day, the same amount wasdeposited to a newly created USdollar account under the name ofbusinessman William Go, whichwas the same account used toconsolidate proceeds from mostof the account. Go has vehement-ly denied opening this account orany other bank account created inRCBC Jupiter branch and chargedDeguito and her deputy, AngelaTorres, with alleged falsificationof documents.

RCBC, for its part, earlierfired Deguito and Torres fortheir alleged involvement in thelaundering of the stolen $81million. Other branch and bankofficials are expected to be met-ed out various sanctions rang-ing from termination to suspen-sion in the coming days whenthe internal investigation is ex-pected to be completed, thebank has announced.

Based on an earlier reportsubmitted by RCBC head office

to AMLC dated March 14, De-guito appeared to have antici-pated the big inflow and facili-tated its speedy withdrawal withsome help within her ownbranch. Torres was among thoseaccused of assisting Deguito infacilitating the withdrawal ofsome $58 million on Feb. 9 evenafter Bangladesh Bank had is-sued a “stop payment” request.

Only $68,000 of the $81 mil-lion money stolen by what is be-lieved to be an internationalsyndicate from Bangladesh hadbeen frozen and returned to thecentral bank.

By March 1, the suspiciousRCBC bank accounts were or-dered frozen by the Court of Ap-peals on the petition filed byAMLC, the agency mandated toenforce the antimoney launder-ing law in the country. By then,the money that came in on Feb.5 had found its way to localcasinos and other entities.

This money laundering con-troversy had put the Philippinesin a negative light globally andheightened calls to repeal thebank secrecy law and give moreteeth to the AMLC to directlyfreeze and investigate suspi-cious bank accounts as well asto include casinos among enti-ties covered by reporting obli-gations under the antimoneylaundering law.

From page A1

From page A1

By Maila AgerInquirer.net

CITING health problems, MaiaSantos-Dequito has requested aweeklong respite from the Sen-ate inquiry, which resumes to-day, into the alleged $81-mil-lion money laundering scheme,her lawyer, former Sen. ReneSaguisag, said yesterday.

“She has health problems ina situation full of stress andstrain, since last Feb. 9, al-legedly of having knowledgethat the P4 billion had beenmoved from banks in NewYork—scene of the originalsin—to the RCBC main officeand finally her Jupiter Streetbranch, where it was remittedto parts of unknown,” Saguis-

ag said in a statement to theSenate blue ribbon commit-tee.

Saguisag said the formerbranch manager “begs onbended knees for a respite un-til after April 4, after which,she commits dutifully to par-ticipate in further proceed-ings, expecting to regain herhealth and balance by then.

“To find a carnivorous mammal intactwith skin, fur and internal organs—thishas never happened before in history,”said Sergei Fyodorov, head of exhibi-tions at the Mammoth Museum of theNortheastern Federal University in theregional capital of Yakutsk.

And the discovery could contribute tothe scientific debate over the origin ofdomesticated dogs.

When the hunters stumbled on thefirst frozen pup in 2011, they alerted Fyo-dorov, who flew out to the remote Arctictundra, 4,700 kilometers from Moscow.

Last year he returned and found thesecond puppy close to the same spot,farther down the slope. Both had diedwhen they were about 3 months old.

They most likely come from the samelitter, said Fyodorov.

Last week he oversaw the removal of thesecond puppy’s remarkably well-preservedbrain—“the first in the world,” he said.

“Puppies are very rare because they havethin bones and delicate skulls,” he said.

The duo have been named the TumatDog, after a nearby village.

Fyodorov said a preliminary look atthe mammoth remains found at the digsuggested some had been butcheredand burned, hinting at the presence ofhumans. It remains to be seen whetherthe puppies were domesticated or wild.

The answer can only be determinedby reconstructing their genomes, whichwould take at least a year.

“The lineages of wolves that likelygave rise to dogs have not yet been dis-covered and it’s possible these puppiescould be on that lineage, which would bevery exciting,” said evolutionary biologistGreger Larson of the University of Ox-

ford, one of the scientists behind a pro-ject to find out when and where dogs be-came the first domesticated animals.

What makes the dog particularly in-triguing is that it managed to become“man’s best friend” even before humans

became settled farmers.It is still unclear whether dogs were

domesticated in one place or in severalplaces independently, whether the pro-cess started when humans took in cubsor whether wolves themselves graduallydrifted to human sites in search of food.

The second puppy’s preserved brain willbe compared with that of modern dogs andwolves. Parasites found on its body will beanalyzed, as will the contents of its stomach.

“When we opened it, we were very sur-prised. The second puppy’s stomach ismostly full of twigs and grass,” Fyodorovsaid, wondering if perhaps the animals werenot exclusively carnivorous or whether theystarted eating grass after they were trappedby a mudslide and began to starve.

“This material is really unique,” saidMietje Germonpre, a paleontologistfrom the Royal Belgian Institute whopartnered up with Fyodorov on the pro-

ject and came to Yakutsk to oversee theautopsy of the second puppy.

“The fact that soft tissue is preservedwill give much more information com-pared to information that can be ob-tained from ‘normal’ fossils,” she said,meaning bones and teeth.

Fyodorov lamented the long time ittakes to get ancient biological material tosuitable labs due to financial constraints,the rugged terrain and red tape, whichsometimes means samples reach labora-tories only six months later.

“Everyone understands that the tis-sue of mammoth fauna loses its struc-ture with every passing second, even inthe freezer,” he said.

Yakutia’s melting permafrost is likelyto yield more treasures in the comingyears, he added, saying the number ofprehistoric finds has grown “several-fold” in the last decade. AFP

ICE AGE PUP Russian scientistsexamine the brains of a frozen puppy,which died 12,460 years ago. A pair ofperfectly preserved Ice Age puppieshave attracted the attention ofscientists worldwide. AFP

H H

dents without prior BSP approvalfrom $120,000 to $2 million.

At present, the BSP requiresbanks to ask customers for un-derlying documents if these cus-tomers want to buy over$120,000 per day from the bank-ing system. With the proposedliberalization of the foreign ex-change limit, bankers hope thatcorporations and the public inneed of dollars would no longerbuy from the black market.

Based on industry estimates,about 85 percent of foreign ex-change transactions in the coun-try are being conducted outsidethe banking system. In thePhilippines, however, foreignexchange and money changingservices outside the banking sys-tem are not illegal. They are re-quired to be registered and arealso covered by the antimoneylaundering law like the banks.Some argue that they need to bepart of the entire ecosystem togrease the financial system.

But to prevent foreign ex-change deals that are reallymeant to go underground, somebankers suggest the tightening ofregulations on money changers.

Many bankers believe thatmoney service brokers should beaudited and reviewed by the BSPannually and not just require reg-istration. “A notarized monthlyconfirmation from the bank CEOs(chief executive officers) that theyhave not dealt with black marketoperators will kill the retail indi-viduals engaged in black marketoperations,” one banker said,adding that data could be validat-ed from the know-your-clientdatabase of banks.

New BAP officersThe BAP recently elected a

new board of directors and anew president, Nestor Tan, thepresident of Banco de Oro Uni-bank. The other four elected of-ficers are Justo Ortiz (UnionBank), first vice president; CezarConsing (Bank of the PhilippineIslands), second vice president;Abraham Co (Asia UnitedBank), secretary; and RobertoPanlilio (JP Morgan Chase),treasurer. Cesar Virtusio remainsas the managing director.

Other newly elected membersof the BAP board are: RobertoBenares (Bank of Commerce); Ri-cardo Chua (China Bank); FabianDee (Metropolitan Bank & TrustCo.); Roberto de Ocampo (Philip-pine Veterans Bank); HerminioFamatigan (Maybank PhilippinesInc.); Consuelo Garcia (INGBank); Reynaldo Maclang(Philippine National Bank);Tadahiro Miyamoto (PhilippineNational Bank); Alfonso Salceo Jr.(Security Bank Corp.) and JoseArnulfo Veloso (HSBC).

RCBC president Lorenzo Tan,in his farewell speech as presidentof BAP, proposed to the incomingBAP board the creation of an anti-financial crime committee to bechaired by a member of theboard, a review of all existinglaws, rules and guidelines againstfinancial crime and the strength-ening of the individual bank andindustry-level compliance and en-forcement structures.

The BAP has 39 commercialbanks as members, of which 21are local banks and 18 are for-eign bank branches.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016 H H 6 SECTIONS / VOL. 31 / NO. 111 P18ePaper: http://inq.ph/inquirerepaper

viber.com/inquirer

Philippine DailyInquirer (Official)

www.inquirer.net@inquirerdotnet

Radyo Inquirer@dzIQ990

MONEY BACK Testifying at the hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee yesterday, casino junket operator Kim Wong (left)says he will return $4.6 million, part of the $81 million hackers stole from the Bangladesh central bank and wired to Philippine bankaccounts. Watching the hearing from the gallery is Bangladesh Ambassador Maj. Gen. John Gomes. LYN RILLON

HELLO AGAIN Reigning Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach attends the media presentation of this year’s Binibining Pilipinas beauty pageant in Quezon City on Tuesday. Fortywomen are vying for the coveted honor of representing the country in the Miss Universe pageant. BULLIT MARQUEZ/AP

Abus abduct 10 Indonesians, demand P50M

Aquino signs into lawRomualdez’s PWD bill

Mar rues Erap support for Grace

By Julie S. AlipalaInquirer Mindanaoand Julie M. Aurelio in Manila

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Ten In-donesians were abducted byAbu Sayyaf gunmen in Suluwaters, and a Philippine mili-tary source said the gunmenhad demanded a ransom ofP50 million.

In Jakarta, the Indonesianforeign ministry said the ownerof the hijacked tugboat and acoal barge had received twotelephone calls from the AbuSayyaf demanding the ransom.

The hijacking was the latestreminder of insecurity plaguingborder regions of the two coun-tries.

The Abu Sayyaf is a ragtagband of self-styled Islamistswho have become notorious forkidnapping, bombing and be-heading activities.

The Indonesians were trans-porting coal from Borneo islandto the Philippines when theywere hijacked, said Indonesia’sforeign ministry spokespersonArrmanatha Nasir.

The victims were crew mem-bers of the tugboat Brahman 12,which was sailing near Tambu-lian Island in Tapul town whengunmen men boarded the ves-sel, according to reports receivedby Maj. Gen. Demy Tejares,deputy commander of TaskForce Zambasulta (Zamboanga-Basilan-Sulu and Tawi-Tawi).

MAR RUES/ A6

ABUS/ A6

By Gil C. Cabacungan

MORE than a million disabledFilipinos will finally enjoy taxexemptions at par with theperks granted to senior citizens,maximizing the benefits thatthey deserve under the law.

President Aquino has signedinto law a bill authored byLeyte Rep. Martin Romualdezgranting persons with disabili-ties (PWDs) exemption from

the 12-percent value-added tax(VAT) on certain goods and ser-vices.

The President signed Repub-lic Act No. 10754 granting VATexemption benefits to personswith disabilities last March 24,Presidential CommunicationsSecretary Herminio Coloma Jr.said he had been informed yes-terday.

“From the bottom of myAQUINO/ A6

By DJ Yap, Niña P. Calleja,Christine O. Avendañoand Annelle Tayao-Juego

STUNG by the decision of formerPresident Joseph Estrada to en-dorse Sen. Grace Poe, Liberal Par-

ty (LP) standard-bearer Mar Rox-as suggested on Tuesday that theManila mayor’s choice was influ-enced by his friendship with thesenator’s father.

“I understand that former Pres-ident Erap endorsed Senator

Grace—he’s a close friend of [thelate action star] Fernando Poe Jr.(FPJ)—so it’s only natural that hewill support Senator Grace,” Rox-as said in General Nakar, Quezonprovince, referring to the late

$17M missing, says WongYou all know each other, one way or the other, says Recto

Wong tags 2 Chinese, Deguito

By Daxim L. LucasBusiness

KIM WONG, the starwitness in yesterday’sSenate hearing, re-vealed that about aquarter of the $81 mil-lion stolen fromBangladesh Bank re-mained unaccountedfor, a portion of which ispossibly still being heldby local money changerPhilrem, which deniedthe allegation.

Wong revealed that he washolding a further P40 million ofthe funds in question in the ac-counts of his Midas Hotel junketoperation, and was prepared toturn this over to the authorities,on top of the $4.6 million in jun-ket funds he also held from thesame set of transaction.

By Ben O. de VeraBusinessand Jerome Aning

THE BUREAU of Internal Rev-enue (BIR) is conducting a par-allel investigation of the tax

compliance of the personalitiesinvolved in the biggest entry ofdirty money into the country’sfinancial system and casinos.

“Whoever needs to be investi-gated, we’re investigating ... But

By Christine O. Avendañoand Leila B. Salaverria

CASINO junket operator KimWong yesterday named twoChinese men allegedly responsi-ble for bringing into the countrythe $81 million stolen from

Bangladesh’s central bank andsaid Maia Santos-Deguito, abranch manager of Rizal Com-mercial Banking Corp. (RCBC),was involved in the scheme tofacilitate the laundered money.

The two were identified asShuhua Gao and Ding Zhize at

the resumption of the Senateblue ribbon committee hearinginto a portion of the $951-mil-lion electronic heist onBangladesh Bank that found itsway into the Philippine bankingsystem.

BIR going after persons tiedto money-laundering case

BIR GOING/ A16

$17M MISSING/ A16

RCBC comes under fire over$81-M transaction / A16WONG/ A16

A-OKAY Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez gives a thumbs up afterCongress approved his bill exempting persons with disabilities from the12-percent VAT on top of their 20-percent discount on goods and services.

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16A WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2016

PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

NEWS

$17M out of total $81M transaction missing, says Wong

RCBC comes under fire over $81-M transaction

BIR going after persons tied to money-laundering casethe result of our investigation, Icannot tell you,” BIR Commis-sioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henarestold reporters on the sidelines ofthe Management Association ofthe Philippines’ general mem-bership meeting on Tuesday.

Henares also declined toidentify the specific personali-ties whom the BIR was investi-gating. “Just wait when we file acase,” she said. The BIR hales tocourt alleged tax dodgersthrough its Run After TaxEvaders or Rate program.

The BIR chief said the bu-reau’s audit was independent ofthose currently being conduct-ed by the Anti-Money Launder-

ing Council (AMLC) and theSenate, which are probing howthe huge amount stolen byhackers from Bangladesh’s cen-tral bank flowed into the Philip-pine banking system.

“We are independent; we havenothing to do with the Amla [theAnti-Money Laundering Act],”Henares said.

Lift secrecy law“Every time there’s a contro-

versy, whether it has a legisla-tive investigation going on, welook into it just to make surewe’re not negligent,” she said.

“If taxes were properly paid,then they don’t have any prob-lem. But if their taxes were notproperly paid, then they will

have a problem,” Henares said.The BIR chief also reiterated

the need to lift the bank secrecylaw for tax purposes.

“I’ve always said that weshould lift the bank secrecy law,because we should not be com-plicit in allowing a crime to becommitted successfully. The gov-ernment’s function is to preventcrime and if there’s a crime com-mitted, to make sure that peopleare properly punished,” she said.

Since last year, the BIR and theDepartment of Finance (DOF)have been urging lawmakers torepeal the bank secrecy law fortaxation purposes as well as in-clude tax evasion as predicatecrime to money laundering.

The DOF has been pointing

From page A1

By Leila B. Salaverria

RIZAL Commercial BankingCorp. (RCBC) came under fire atthe Senate yesterday after it saidit could only have slowed downbut not stop the transactions in-volving the $81 million—laterfound to have been stolen fromthe Bangladesh central bank—that were deposited in dor-mant accounts its Jupiter Streetbranch.

Maria Celia Estavillo, head ofthe bank’s legal and regulatoryaffairs group, said RCBC did not

have the right to retain thefunds without a freeze orderfrom the court.

What it could do was file asuspicious transactions report,Estavillo said.

“Under the law, we have notbeen given any right to retainthe funds,” she said at the re-sumption of the Senate probeinto the alleged laundering ofthe $81 million.

But this was unacceptable toSen. Sergio Osmeña III, chair ofthe committee on banks, wholater twitted RCBC for stopping

the transfers when only $68,000of the stolen money was left andthe bulk had been withdrawn.

“You’re telling the whole world,‘send your money to the Philip-pines because we cannot stop [thetransactions].’ It will go straight tothe casino or to the remittancecompany,’” Osmeña said.

Osmeña also questioned whythe bank’s president, Lorenzo Tan,was not alerted on the entry of the$81 million until it was learnedthat the funds may have beenstolen from Bangladesh, and mostof the money had left the bank.

From page A1

Wong tags junket operator from Beijing, Macau investor, DeguitoGao is a junket operator from

Beijing whom Wong said he hadknown for eight years, while Zhizewas introduced to him by Gao asan investor in Macau and whobrought in the alleged stolen mon-ey at the Solaire and Midas casi-nos. He also said Zhize could beconsidered a junket agent here.

He said he introduced Gao toDeguito, whom he had knowneven before she became the RCBCbranch manager on Jupiter Streetin Makati City. He said Deguitomade up five fictitious bank ac-counts where the stolen moneywas deposited and even deliveredsome of the money to the casino.

Deguito did not appear at thehearing. Her lawyer, formerSen. Rene Saguisag, requestedthat she be given a weeklongrespite, citing health reasons.

Wong, who read a statementdenying involvement in themoney laundering, said De-quito helped Gao open a bankaccount in her RCBC branch inMay 2015. Deguito had report-edly told Gao he needed to openfive bank accounts to set up acorporation for his investment.

Two to three days later after theinitial meeting, he said Deguitocalled him up to say Gao needed toput $500 on each of the accounts.

On Feb. 4, he said Gao went tosee him to say that Zhize, who is

from Macau, would invest in thejunket operation here.

“I asked him who he (Zhize)was and he said it was certain(Gao) would bring big investment... He said big money will be com-ing in,” Wong said.

The next day he said Gao andZhize went to see him at Solaireto tell him big money will becoming in from the bank ac-counts in RCBC. It was the firsttime he met Zhize, he said.

On that day, he was asked byGao and Zhize to call up Deguitoto ask about the bank deposits onGao’s bank accounts, only to betold by the bank manager thatthere was still no deposit. Even-tually, he said that Deguito calledto tell him $6 million had comein and per advice to him by Gaoand Zhize. He said he told her tosend the money in Solaire.

More money came in after-ward in the bank accounts—to-taling to $81 million, Wong said.

He said Zhize had wantedDeguito to bring the cash to So-laire and she said she wouldtake care of it.

Before 7 p.m. of the same day,he said Michael Bautista, hus-band of Salud Bautista who ispresident of Philrem ServiceCorp., came to deliver P80 mil-lion upon the request of Degui-to. He brought the money placedin boxes with an asssistant.

Bautista told them that Deguito

would bring the other P20 millionto Solaire, according to Wong.

CCTV footage“Maia arrived at Solaire based

on its records at 7:55:33 p.m.,”Wong said, showing a photo ofwhat appears to be a CCTVfootage of Deguito’s Honda Jazz.

He said they met at the VIPlounge of the hotel.

But upon questioning by Sen.Teofisto Guingona III, chair of thepanel, on whether there wasCCTV footage of the meetingamong Wong, Deguito andBautista, Solaire lawyer SilverioBenny Tan said this footage hadbeen automatically erased by nowsince regulations by the PhilippineAmusement and Gaming Corp.(Pagcor) that CCTV footage couldonly be kept for 14 days afterwhich they would be erased.

Wong, in his testimony, alsosaid Bautista told him he neededa receipt for the P100-million de-livery and he gave the passport ofWeikang Xu, whom Wong de-scribed to be a small player. Heproduced a picture of himself de-positing the money at Solaire.

Gentleman’s agreementOn Feb. 9, he said he went to

the house of Bautista to getP100 million and $3 million incash. Wong said he went back toBautista’s house again the nextday this time to get P100 mil-

From page A1

He said that if he were thebank and a party asked him for astop payment on the account in-volving that party’s stolen money,he would be obligated to comply.

“I may not give the moneyback until he proves it’s his, butdefinitely I would stop pay-ment,” he said.

He also said if there was noproof of a legal transaction—suchas payment for services—to ex-plain the amount, the bank wouldhave to ask questions.

Estavillo said she understoodOsmeña’s logic, “but unfortu-

nately, the laws do not reflect therights that you are explaining.”

She said what the bank could dowas to “slow down on the process-ing and make the parties speak.”

Pressed by Osmeña to saywhether the bank would allowthe transactions to go throughor not, she said, “Effectively, itwould have the same effect.”

“It would not have the sameeffect and you’re not being verycandid with the committee,”Osmeña said.

Estavillo countered that shewas being “very candid.”

The law simply does not al-low banks to just stop transac-tions, she said, adding that itmight be good to amend it togive more teeth to the banks.“Even the regulators do nothave that authority,” she said.

Osmeña said he had spokenwith several top bankers whosaid they would exercise theirdiscretion and stop the transac-tion.

Estavillo said that was notRCBC’s reading of the law, andall banks have the same obliga-tions and rights.

lion and $2 million.On Feb.14, he also got anoth-

er P100 million from Bautista.Wong said he got a total of

P400 million—P100 milliondeposited to Solaire and P300million from Bautista as well as$5 million in cash.

Wong said he deposited theP300 million to the junket oper-ation in Solaire while the $5 mil-lion was something that Gaoand Zhize wanted to get. “Wehad a fight over this because thegentleman’s agreement is noone will get any cash as this wasnot part of the rules,” he said.

But he said that the men got$370,000 and this made him an-gry. He said what was left in So-laire was $4.63 million. “It’s un-der safekeeping,” Wong said.

Bangladesh AmbassadorJohn Gomes welcomed Wong’sdisclosure and said his countrywant the money back.

Secrecy lawDuring the hearing, Solaire

representative Benny Tan the ac-count of a high roller—called“Ding Group”—worth P107 mil-lion had been frozen after it waslinked to the stolen $81 million.Solaire also confiscated variousdenominations of cash fromtheir rooms amounting toP1.347 million, Tan said.

“We are committed to holdthese and comply with whatev-

er court order would apply tothese,” he said.

RCBC avoided being com-pelled to submit to the Senate thedocuments used to open the ap-parently fictitious accounts thatreceived the $81 million.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III ini-tially sought the documentsfrom the bank, but RCBClawyer Maria Celia Estavillosaid these were covered by thebank secrecy law.

Pimentel contended that if fic-titious accounts are involved, thebank secrecy law does not apply.He moved that the bank be com-pelled to submit the documents.But Estavillo said the bank wasmaintaining its position.

But Sen. Sonny Angara sug-gested that the Senate just get thedocuments from the Anti-MoneyLaundering Council (AMLC),which also possess these.

The AMLC told the Senatethat it could submit the informa-tion, which are already part ofpublic record as they were usedto file criminal complaints.

After three hearings, the Sen-ate still has a long way to go be-fore it could piece together thewhole picture of what tran-spired in the alleged launder-ing, Guingona said.

“It’s hard to make an assess-ment right now because we cansee only half of the picture, one-fourth of the picture,” he told

reporters after the hearing.One of the conflicting tales that

came up yesterday has to do withthe earlier allegation that P600million was delivered to WeikangXu in Solaire Casino, he said.

There was testimony yester-day that Xu was not a player inSolaire and that the amount wasnot delivered to him, he noted.

PuzzlingAnother thing Guingona

found “puzzling” was the omis-sion by Salud Bautista of thename of Wong in her earlier tes-timony on her company’s remit-tance of the $81 million to vari-ous accounts.

Wong had testified that hehad picked up money fromBautista’s house.

“That is puzzling. We will lookinto that, that is certainly some-thing to look at. Why did theynot mention that?” he said.

It could be reasoned thatPhilrem was not asked aboutWong in previous hearings, but hesaid it was a controversial nameand should have been mentioned.

But he said that at this point, hewould not say who he believes.

“We’re just listening and we’reweighing the evidence,” he said.

The next hearing is scheduledon April 5. Guingona said he couldnot say how many more hearingsneed to be conducted before theprobe could be wrapped up.

out that the Philippines is one ofthe only three countries in theworld with a bank secrecy lawand that it is also one of just twocountries where tax evasion isnot a predicate crime under theirantimoney laundering laws.

Criminal cases consolidatedThe Department of Justice

(DOJ) has consolidated thecriminal cases filed by theAMLC against Rizal Commer-cial Banking Corp. (RCBC) for-mer branch manager Maia San-tos-Deguito and those filedagainst businessmen Kam SinWong alias Kim Wong andWeikang Xu over the $81 mil-lion stolen by hackers fromBangladesh’s central bank.

“The latest AMLC complaint[against Wong and Xu] will beconsolidated into the [Deguito]case,” Prosecutor General ClaroArellano, chief of the DOJ’s pros-ecutorial service, told reporters.

He said state prosecutorGilmarie Fe Pacamara wouldhandle the consolidated cases.

The first case was filed onMarch 11 against Deguito andthe four John Does who ownedthe bank accounts atRCBC—opened under thenames of Michael FranciscoCruz, Jessie Christopher La-grosas, Alfred Santos Vergaraand Enrico Teodoro Vasquez—that received the moneywired from the Federal Re-serve Bank of New York.

The AMLC said the ownersof the bank accounts gavefictitious identifications andaddresses.

The cases against Wong andXu were filed on March 22.The AMLC alleged that about$21.6 million of the launderedamount went to Wong whilesome $59.2 million to Xu.

Pacamara has already sum-moned Deguito for preliminaryinvestigation on April 12 and 19.

Arellano said a separatesubpoena would be issued inthe next few days requiringWong and Xu to appear beforethe prosecutor and answerthe charges of money laun-dering filed against them bythe AMLC.

The junket operator furtherdisclosed that the trail of trans-actions left a balance of $17 mil-lion that was unaccountedfor—an amount he believed wasstill with Philrem. But Philremofficials denied this, saying allthe funds that were coursed tothem for conversion from dol-lars into pesos were delivered totheir intended beneficiaries.

Including this missing $17 mil-lion, the amount that potentiallyremains within the country—andcould still be recovered andreturned to the Bangladeshigovernment—is slightly over$20 million, or about one-fourthof the funds stolen.

“You all know each other, oneway or the other,” said Sen. RalphRecto, expressing incredulity atthe testimonies of the personali-ties who have been linked, rightlyor wrongly, to the $81-millionmoney-laundering scandal—thelargest deal involving the traffic ofso-called “dirty money” in thePhilippines to date.

“Lahat kayo magkakilala,” hesaid at the resumption of theSenate blue ribbon committeehearing, while questioning offi-cials of money changer PhilremServices Corp. about the flow offunds through the local finan-cial system.

Wong had said that he knewLorenzo Tan, president and CEOof Rizal Comercial Banking Corp.(RCBC), as well as Chinese-Fil-ipino businessman William SoGo. The three are bound by alove of high-end cars through adealership owned by business-man Jason Go, where Wong saidhe first met RCBC branch manag-er Maia Santos-Deguito.

Also known to these personsare Michael and Salud Bautistawho own Philrem, throughwhich the laundered fundswere converted into pesos.

“And I don’t expect any of youto say that ‘we knew this [mon-ey] would come from an unlaw-ful activity’ or that ‘we knewthis would come from a heistjob or from a cybercrime or ahacking,’” Recto added, ex-

plaining that he expected allparties at the Senate probe todeny any form of culpability.

“I don’t expect you to saythat, but the facts are the facts,”he added, narrating the trail of

persons involved in the chainthat began when the funds werewired to the Philippines onFeb. 5, until it was sent to casi-nos one week later.

“[Chinese junket agent] Gao

[Shuhua] was introduced [bycasino junket operator Kim Wongto RCBC branch manager Degui-to] to open an account,” the sen-ator said. “Accounts wereopened. Money came in. Moneywent to Mr. [William] Go (refer-ring to bank accounts whichwere allegedly opened in hisname illegally), went to Philrem,was exchanged with RCBC, re-mitted to Mr. Wong, remitted tocasinos, there’s a portion not inthe casinos.”

In revealing that as much asone-fourth of the funds stolenfrom Bangladesh Bank may stillbe in the Philippines, outsidethe banking system and beyondthe reach of the Anti-MoneyLaundering Council, Wong sug-gested that it may not be be-yond the power of casino indus-try players to freeze.

In fact, Wong and SolaireResort and Casino chief legalcounsel Silverio Benny Tanmade parallel revelationsthat Solaire took the initiativeof seizing an estimatedP107 million of these suspect-

ed laundered funds from theaccounts of its clients once itlearned of the money’s dubi-ous provenance.

Solaire security entered sev-eral hotel rooms and “arrest-ed” an unspecified number ofits clientele—all Chinese na-tionals—and recovered anequivalent of P1.3 millionworth of cash, denominated invarious foreign currencies.

Since Solaire had no authorityto detain these clients, they werereleased and subsequently leftthe country earlier this month.

“We are committed to holdthis and comply with any courtorder would apply to thisfunds,” Benny Tan said, addingthat the move to seize the sus-pected funds was an “internaldecision” made by Solaire.

The revelation earned Solaireand its official praise from thelawmakers who contrasted itsswift action on the funds with therelatively slower moves of theAMLC which netted for the anti-money laundering watchdog on-ly $68,000 in frozen funds.

NOT ME Philrem Service Corp. president Salud Bautista explainsher role in the $81-million money-laundering case during Tuesday’sSenate hearing. Bautista said she just acted on instructions given byRCBC Jupiter branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito. LYN RILLON

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Saturday, August 6, 2016 H H P188 Sections / Vol. 31 / No. 240ePaper: Inq.news/inqplus inq.news/viber@inquirerdotnet @dzIQ990

www.radyo.inquirer.netwww.inquirer.net

LET THE GAMES BEGIN A boat of the Navy of Brazil is pictured with the interlocking Olympic Rings colored blue, yellow, black,green and red as it patrols the coast of Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, a day ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. AFP

LANAO MAYORS YIELD PNP Chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa acknowledges the surrenderon Friday of Maguing, Lanao del Sur, Mayor Mamaulan Abinal Mulok, and former Marantao, Lanao delSur, Mayor Mohammad Ali Abu Abinal, who both admitted their involvement in illegal drugs. PNP-PIO

LIFESTYLEFrom Pokemongeek to ‘PokemonGo’ freak / C1

LIFESTYLE‘Dirty Old Musical’: 5midlifers singing abouttheir salad days / E4

OPINIONGet Real: Sisonand the peacetalks / A12

BUSINESSPH forexreserves still atrecord high / B1

WHAT’S INSIDE

Rody admits abusesin bloody drug war

Bato threatens to evict Espinosas from White House

Shoot-to-kill ordervs narcopoliticos

“That’s my order,” Mr. Du-terte told reporters after visitingChief Insp. Ricky Boy Remo-roza, who was wounded in agunfight with a suspected drugdealer in Magsaysay, Davao delSur province, on Wednesday.

Asked if security forces couldshoot narcopoliticos only iftheir lives were in danger, Mr.Duterte replied, “Read my lips.”

The President said politicianscould try breaking other laws,but not drug laws.

“You will surely die,” he said.Mr. Duterte is expected to re-

lease soon a list of at least 27 lo-cal politicians involved in thedrug trade.

Earlier, presidential legalcounsel Salvador Panelo saidthe list was “shocking” and Mr.Duterte knew some of the peo-ple on it.

“The President said he knewsome of them, but he had a duty

By Allan NawalInquirer Mindanao

DAVAO CITY—President Duterte on Friday issueda shoot-to-kill order against elected officials in-volved in the narcotics trade.

PRESIDENT Duterte’s bloody waron drugs, which has taken the livesof more than 600 people in onemonth, has caught the attention ofinternational media and humanrights organizations.

The viral photo showing the life-less body of suspected drug pusherMichael Siaron being cradled by hisweeping wife Jennilyn Olayres “hu-manized the cost of this war ondrugs,” according to a Time reportquoting Phelim Kine, the deputyAsia director for Human RightsWatch (HRW).

But Mr. Duterte, in his inauguralState of the Nation Address toCongress on July 25, dismissed thephoto, published by the INQUIRER onits front page a day before hisspeech, calling it melodramaticand seeking to evoke “Pieta,” thesculpture of Michelangelo depict-

By Jaymee T. Gamil

COME IN or get out.This was the ultimatum that

Philippine National Police chiefDirector General Ronald “Bato”dela Rosa gave the Espinosafamily days after alleged EasternVisayas drug lord Kerwin Espinosa

ignored the police’s advice for himto surrender.

Airing a message to the fugi-tive Espinosa during a media in-terview, Dela Rosa warned that

Bloody PHdrug warcatches eyeof int’l media

BATO / A10

BLOODY / A10

SHOOT-TO-KILL / A10

Kerwin’s right hand manshot dead in Cebu / A10

Aguirre: Int’l rights suit vsDuterte? No way, ‘criminals

are not humanity’ / A6

By Teddyvic S. MelendresSports Editor

RIO DE JANEIRO—As the virulentZika virus lurks like a nasty ghost inmany neighborhoods, Brazil is set tosweep all itspresent trou-bles under thecarpet of uni-versal sportingunity on Fridaynight (7 a.m.Saturday inManila), whenit rings up the curtain on the 31stOlympic Games in this epicenter ofsamba.

An expectedly sizzlingfour-hour program that marriesthis Portuguese-speaking nation’sAfro-influenced culture with its

Rio openstoday 31stOlympicGames

RIO/ A11

SC rejectsgov’t bid tofree 10 jailedRed leaders

Trump lumps PH with terror statesWASHINGTON—Republican presidentialhopeful Donald Trump launched new at-tacks on immigrants on Thursday (Friday inManila), telling supporters that Somalis andother refugees from “terrorist nations”should be barred entry to the United States.

Trump warned that immigrants, including

those from the Philippines, could create apotential pool of recruitment for “Islamistterror groups.”

“We are letting people come in from ter-rorist nations that shouldn’t be allowed be-cause you can’t vet them,” Trump, who has

By Estrella Torresand Tetch Torres-TupasInquirer.net

THE SUPREME Court rejected onFriday the government’s request tofree 10 jailed communist leaders sothey could attend peace talksscheduled later this month in Oslo,Norway, throwing an unexpectedcurve ball in Manila’s efforts atending one of Asia’s deadliest andlongest running insurgencies.

But the high court, in a resolu-tion, said it posed no objection inallowing former Bayan Muna Rep.Satur Ocampo and National Demo-cratic Front of the Philippines

SC REJECTS/ A6 TRUMP/ A6

By Daxim L. Lucas

BANKING regulators yesterday im-posed a P1-billion fine on theYuchengco family-controlled RizalCommercial Banking Corp. (RCBC)for its role in the Bangladesh Bankcyberheist in February that enabledcriminals to transfer $81 million tofour accounts at an RCBC branch inMakati City.

In a statement issued late yester-day, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas(BSP) said the penalty represented“the largest amount ever approvedas part of its supervisory enforce-ment actions on a BSP-supervised fi-nancial institution.”

RCBC said separately that itwould pay the fine in two tranchesof P500 million over a one-year pe-riod.

The fine imposed on RCBC marksa sharp departure from the BSP’sstandard practice of imposing alegally mandated fine of P30,000per violation per day on financialinstitutions found to have violatedbanking regulations.

“This affirms the BSP’s strongcommitment to ensure the stabilityof the country’s financial systemthrough strong and effective regula-tions of BSP-supervised financial in-stitutions,” the central bank said.

RCBC fined P1B over Bangladesh cyberheist

Bangladesh exec says Dutertepromised to return $81M / A4

RCBC / A4

4A SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 2016

PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

NEWSBangladesh exec says Duterte promised to return $81MPRESIDENT Duterte has given acommitment that $81 millionstolen from the account ofBangladesh Bank in New Yorkand traced to bank accounts inManila would be returned, theBangladesh ambassador to thePhilippines said on Friday.

“We are very hopeful that wewill get the total $81 million.The reason is I got [a] commit-ment from the President him-self,” Ambassador John Gomestold a media briefing in Manila.

Cyber criminals succeeded instealing $81 million fromBangladesh Bank’s account atthe Federal Reserve Bank of NewYork, transferring the funds tofour accounts at Manila’s RizalCommercial Banking Corp.(RCBC), which was then laun-dered through the city’s casinos,according to investigators.

Only about $18 million, in-cluding around $2.7 millionfrozen by the Philippines’ casi-no regulator, has been account-ed for.

A Bangladesh central bankteam visiting Manila to recoverthe stolen money said it wasclose to getting back $15 mil-lion of the loot frozen by thePhilippines, but first has toprove ownership of the cash toits hosts.

The Philippines’ Department ofJustice (DOJ) has asked theBangladesh Bank delegation tofile a legal document staking itsclaim to $15 million of that, butthe casino money will have to bepursued separately, said twosources close to the visiting team.

“We are in the final stages of re-covering the $15 million, but forthe rest we hope a (Philippines)Senate hearing on the issue re-sumes so that we can get to knowmore details about the case,” saidGomes, who is helping the bankrepresentatives on a four-day visit

to Manila ending Friday.The last Senate hearing into the

heist ended in May as a new gov-ernment came to power underPresident Duterte. No date hasbeen announced for a resumption.

Bangladeshi officials say themoney was able to disappear in-to the casino industry in thePhilippines because of systemicfailures at RCBC, not just individ-ual error by some of its officers.

RCBC’s then president Loren-zo Tan told a Senate hearing inMarch that the incident was“some judgment error from thepeople on the ground.”

The Bangladeshi delegationconsists of Debaprosad Debnathand Abdul Rab from BangladeshBank’s financial intelligenceunit, and Bangladesh Banklawyer Ajmalul Hossain. Theyhave already met the DOJ andofficials from the Anti-MoneyLaundering Council in Manila.

The team has prepared an af-

fidavit citing a letter by the NewYork Fed to the Philippines’ cen-tral bank, in which the Fed saidthe money was stolen fromBangladesh Bank’s account.The affidavit will be given to theDOJ to file with a court, thesources said.

Gomes told Reuters late onThursday he hoped the $15 mil-lion would be returned in amonth.

Prove itRicardo J. Paras III, chief

state counsel of the DOJ, toldReuters that it has alreadydrafted court documents to be-gin recovery of the $15 million,but it was important forBangladesh to prove it is theirmoney.

The Philippine Amusementand Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), agovernment body that regulatescasinos in the country, haspromised to cooperate with

Bangladesh Bank to help it re-cover the $2.7 million it hasfrozen, Gomes said.

“The money is with Solaire(Resort and Casino),” PagcorPresident Alfredo Lim toldReuters. “It will put us in a badlight if the money is not imme-diately released to them.”

Solaire, operated byBloomberry Resorts Corp., hassaid about $29 million of thefunds came to the casino andmost was transferred to the ac-counts of two junket operators.

Solaire did not immediatelyreturn requests for comment.

The Bangladeshi sources saidthey were writing to Mr.Duterte, whom Gomes has al-ready met, formally seeking hishelp to recover all of the stolenmoney.

Presidential spokespersonErnesto Abella said BangladeshBank should reach out to thePresident soon.

“The fight against drugs takespriority over all, but this doesnot mean to say that (Duterte)ignores (other things),” Abellasaid.

The sources said BangladeshBank would take RCBC to courtif these efforts fail to bear fruit.

It is relying on internal RCBCdocuments to buttress its asser-tion that the bank’s JupiterStreet branch in Manila ignoredsuspicions raised by some RCBCofficials when the money wasfirst remitted to the accounts onFeb. 5, and then delayed actingon requests from RCBC’s headoffice to freeze the funds onFeb. 9.

RCBC said in a statement toReuters: “Bangladesh shouldfinish its own investigation todetermine who the culpritswere before concluding thetheft was an outside job, with-out fault on their part.” Reuters

RCBC fined P1B overBangladesh cyberheist

RCBC was embroiled in amoney-laundering controversyin February when cybercrimi-nals used it as a conduit forfunds stolen from theBangladeshi central bank’s ac-counts with the US Federal Re-serve Bank in New York. A totalof $1 billion was stolen by stillunidentified hackers, but $870million in transfers werestopped, while $81 million en-tered the RCBC system andwere subsequently found tohave been laundered throughlocal casinos.

RCBC said it would complywith the fine imposed underMonetary Board Resolution No.1392 by paying the penalty tothe BSP.

“The (P1-billion fine) shall bepaid in two equal tranches overa one-year period,” the banksaid, explaining that the first

P500 million would be paid up-on approval by the MonetaryBoard and the balance of P500million one year after.

Also yesterday, BangladeshiAmbassador to Manila JohnGomes and officials from theBangladesh Bank renewed theircall for the return of the stolenfunds, about $15 million ofwhich was either turned over bycasino junket operator Kim Wongto the Anti-Money LaunderingCouncil (AMLC) or frozen by So-laire Resort and Casino.

Gomes, in particular, pointedto RCBC’s accountability for al-lowing the funds wired to it tobe withdrawn despite havingbeen sent “stop payment” ordersby frantic Bangladeshi officialsafter they discovered the heist.

The Bangladeshi official alsosaid he was encouraged by theenthusiastic response he had re-ceived from officials of theDuterte administration.

From page A1

BRING BACK OUR FUNDS In a press briefing on Friday,Bangladeshi Ambassador to the Philippines John Gomes once moreappealed for the return of $81 million stolen from his country’scentral bank in February. REUTERS

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN The Jupiter, Makati City, branch of RizalCommercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), where the $81 million stolenfrom Bangladesh was wired and laundered through local casinos. Thebank was fined a record-setting P1 billion for its role in the moneylaundering in February. INQUIRER PHOTO

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