January 3, 2002, The Philippine Star, Finance firms ordered to report all terrorist-linked transactions,

January 3, 2002, The Philippine Star, Finance firms ordered to report all terrorist-linked transactions,

The newly created Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has set in motion a mechanism designed to detect financial transactions by local and international terrorists. The AMLC ordered all stock brokers, financing companies, investment houses and pre-need companies to report all transactions linked to suspected terrorist groups.

The memorandum order was coursed through the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the Investment Houses Association of the Philippines (IHAP), the Investment Companies Association of the Philippines (ICAP), the Financing Companies Association of the Philippines (FCAP) and the Federation of Pre-need Plan Companies (FPPC).

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Lilia Bautista, a member of the AMLC, said the PSE and the four industry organizations have been furnished a list of 87 entities and individuals found to be maintaining links with terrorist organizations.

The list, provided by the United States government and the United Nations Security Council, includes 27 groups specifically cited by US President George W. Bush following the 11 September terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington that left an estimated 3,500 people dead or missing...

Two more lists were later released by the US, identifying a total of 60 individuals and organizations suspected to be international terrorists, among them the Irish Republic Army, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the Tamil Tigers and the Hamas.

The three-member AMLC also circulated several UN Security Council resolutions condemning terrorism...

The AMLC directive, aimed to partly flesh out the newly enacted Anti-Money Laundering Law, meant to get rid of the country's image as a haven for money laundering.

In another development, Philippine National Police [PNP] chief Director-General Leandro Mendoza vowed to give top priority to the campaign against transnational crime in 2002.

Mendoza also underscored the need to strengthen regional cooperation in the fight against drug traffickers, kidnap-for-ransom syndicates and human smugglers

In his year-end report to the people, Mendoza said these three areas of concern should be addressed by local and international law enforcement organizations, notably the ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] Association of Chiefs of Police, and the International Police (Interpol). "We have noted the involvement of foreigners in the kidnapping of their fellow countrymen," Mendoza said. "These are international crimes. In our drug enforcement alone, almost 100 per cent of the suspects arrested are Chinese nationals." He was apparently referring to the case of Jackie Tiu, who was abducted by fellow Chinese nationals.

The PNP chief also tagged the Muslim terrorist group Abu Sayyaf and the Pentagon kidnap syndicate in Mindanao as threats to national security.

Mendoza said the crime-fighting capability of the police should be enhanced considering that crime syndicates were well-funded and technologically equipped.