THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the country’s Bank Secrecy law limits its ability to investigate suspicious transactions, constraining efforts by regulators to detect possible corruption and financial crimes.
“We don’t have the power to scrutinize bank accounts, we are limited to covered transaction reports and suspicious transaction reports,” BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. told senators during a Development Budget Coordination Committee hearing on Thursday. “Our hands are tied when it comes to that.”
Mr. Remolona said the BSP and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) could not directly examine bank accounts and must rely on transaction reports submitted by financial institutions.
He said authorities might seek a freeze order from the Court of Appeals when suspicious activity is detected, but doing so requires evidence of a predicate crime and probable cause.
“Then, when it reaches the Court of Appeals, they may agree to freeze,” he said. “They may also not allow the freeze, because probable cause is required, and there must be a predicate crime.”
Mr. Remolona said the BSP and AMLC have been using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify potential red flags in financial transactions.
The Senate restored P162.9 million to the AMLC’s proposed 2026 budget, raising its allocation to P333.1 million from P170.2 million under the National Expenditure Program.
Mr. Remolona said P125 million went to AI, as well as capacity building. “We need experts who can use AI. So the budget was put to good use.”
Senator Francis Pancratius N. Pangilinan, who questioned the Land Bank of the Philippines in 2025 over the release of P457 million to a flood control contractor, suggested tighter monitoring of government-related transactions.
“Does AMLC have the mechanisms to zero in on government banks?” Mr. Pangilinan asked. “There should be a restructuring of the reporting system, there should be separate depository banks of government accounts, there should be stricter scrutiny.”
Senate President Sherwin T. Gatchalian said stronger anti-corruption measures could help address inefficiencies in government spending.
“The price of oil is something we cannot control,” he said. “But corruption, we can control that, eliminate or mitigate it. And the AMLC is one of the key actors [that can] mitigate or even eliminate corruption.”
Mr. Gatchalian said past Senate investigations found bank transactions that went undetected by the AMLC, which the council attributed to limitations in its analytical capabilities.
Senator Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV also renewed his call for greater government transparency, citing the proposed Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability measure.
“During the height of the flood control scandal, we all agreed we would push for this, and push for full transparency,” Mr. Aquino said. “So I’m bothered that it is not here in our top priority measure, considering it is almost done.” — Kaela Patricia B. Gabriel