No Confidentiality Rule for Binay?

"The Liberal Party had nothing to do with the AMLC report."

    Senate President Franklin M. Drilon today disputed the assertion of the camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay that the publication of the freeze order by the Court of Appeals based on a report by the Anti-Money Laundering Council violated the confidentiality rule of AMLC.

    "The Anti-Money Laundering Act is an exception to the Bank Secrecy Law. That  was the whole point of the debate when we crafted this law. That is the effect of the Bank Secrecy Law, which prohibits revelations of one’s deposits," Drilon explained.

     Drilon said the confidentiality clause in AMLA prohibits the employees and officials of the covered institutions, such as employees of banks or employees of insurance agencies, from revealing to the public what they report to the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

    "The prohibition is on the revelation of the filing of the petition in the Court of Appeals for a freeze order. That is prohibited because its disclosure or publication  would allow the subject or the person against whom the petition is filed to just close the account," Drilon said.

   Once the order is issued for the freeze, there is no prohibition, Drilon emphasized: "The confidentiality rule does not apply because then you already infringe on the freedom of the press. There is no more public interest to be served by prohibiting the publication."

   "The publication is only prohibited when the petition is being filed because then you can close the accounts, but once there is an order, the freedom of the press provision will prevail. Media has access to the freeze order because there is no public interest involved. There is no liability," according to Drilon.

    The Senate President said media cannot be held in contempt for making the freeze order public. He said media can divulge the AMLC report as "it is part of the order of the Court which ordered the freezing. Those are public records. The freedom of the press is primordial in that case."

      Drilon said the freeze order means that the court found strong evidence. Otherwise, it would not be granted.

      At the same time, Drilon clarified that the Liberal Party had nothing to do with the AMLC report. 

    "We have nothing to do with that. The members of the AMLC are professionals. The Bangko Sentral governor is a professional, the SEC officials are professionals. They are not partisan," Drilon said.

    "Of course, as we near the elections, this is par for the course," he added.   

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PNoy vets LP presidential bets

President Aquino is in the process of conducting consultations with various sectors on who will be the presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the Liberal Party coalition in 2016.

This was the reply of Senate President Franklin M. Drilon when asked about the reported meeting of President Aquino with Sen. Grace Poe, who has figured prominently in recent surveys of possible presidential candidates in next year's general elections.

"As party chairman, the President must seek the views of every sector. That is his prerogative," Drilon said. 

Drilon pointed out that he was not present in the meeting.

The LP stalwart said  the choice of who to field as presidential and vice-presidential candidates next year is "a matter for the President to decide."

Drilon said that while Interior Secretary Mar Roxas is the "presumptive candidate" of the Liberal Party, President Aquino "is undertaking consultations of every sector because of the broad coalition that he heads."

Drilon said there is no schedule as of now as to when the LP would choose its candidates as "we have to seek the opinion of the highest official of the land and our party chairman. "  

Drilon explained that the President did not need to ask the permission of the LP in holding talks with Sen. Poe: "I don’t think that the President needs anyone’s permission."

 Asked his opinion on whether Sen. Poe would make a good vice president, Drilon replied: "That is a matter for the President (to decide). The President is undertaking consultations and I do not want to preempt him. As LP Vice-Chairman, I will rely on the judgment of the President."

Shifting to the issue of consultancy fees of the Senate raised in a COA report,  Drilon said:  "I have not seen the COA report. When I saw the news report this morning, I directed (Senate) Secretary Yabes to submit to me a report on this."

"The matter of hiring consultants is a prerogative of each senator. The consultancy agreement and the number of consultants, and who these consultants are, are not cleared with my office. I do not sign any consultancy agreements," Drilon said.

Drilon explained  that each senator decides on the issue on the basis of his or her need and within his or her assigned budget: "I do not interfere on that, that is part of the independence of each senator who to hire as consultants."

Drilon said that very senator has a budget for consultants. "There is a budget equally assigned to all senators. How they utilize it and how much they pay the  consultants, that depends on every senator and their (individual) needs."

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Poll body appointee gets boost from senate head

     

Senate President Franklin M. Drilon vouched for the integrity and competence of newly appointed Comelec commissioner Rowena Guanzon amid questions raised by the opposition.

 "I know Commissioner Guanzon. She and I used to be colleagues at ACCRA Law. She is competent and highly qualified," Drilon said.

"She has her own mind, and I am confident that will be independent as a Comelec commissioner. I don’t think she will blindly follow what other people say," he added.

The political opposition claimed that the Liberal Party may be behind the appointment of Guanzon to the sensitive post so she could favor the candidacy of the presumptive LP presidential candidate, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.

Guanzon, the opposition said, is close to the Liberal Party, and Drilon's name had been mentioned as among those who could have pushed her appointment.       "What our political adversaries are saying is not unexpected. If they have nothing to say, then they cannot be called the opposition. But I have complete trust in the character of Commissioner Guanzon," Drilon explained.

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Senate giving top priority to BBL—Drilon

Senate President Franklin M. Drilon today said passing the Bangsamoro Basic Law is the top priority of the Upper Chamber.

Asked by media whether lawmakers are having second thoughts about passing the BBL after the hearings on the Mamasapano incident, Drilon said the two chambers are unified in giving priority to passing the proposed law establishing the Bangsamoro political entity.

"Speaker Belmonte has said that it is still in top of their agenda. On our part, if the Committee submits its report to the plenary, then we will give it priority in the calendar," Drilon explained. 

The Senate President said the reported killing of bomb-maker Basit Usman, a high-value target of the government, "assuming it is true, would help in restoring trust in the MILF" after Mamasapano.

Drilon said he is confident the BBL would be passed by June 11 as the Senate will place it on top of its priority agenda once the committee report is submitted o the plenary.

"We will exercise our leadership in both chambers of Congress to give priority to the debates on the BBL," he added.

Aside from the BBL, the Senate will prioritize several economic measures.

These are the Cabotage Law, the Tax Incentive Monitoring and Transparency Act (TIMTA), and the merger of Landbank and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).

"We agreed that the two chambers of Congress will prioritize these," Drilon said.

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BBL, key bills are Senate's priorities

The Bangsamoro Basic Law will be the top agenda of the Senate when it resumes plenary session on Monday, according to Senate President Franklin M. Drilon.

Apart from the BBL, Drilon said, the Upper Chamber would also work for the passage of key legislation aimed at boosting the country’s competitiveness amidst the emerging opportunities and challenges arising from ASEAN economic integration.

“The passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law continues to be important for the upper chamber. It will receive a special legislative attention in the coming weeks. We will devote extra time and effort to ensure the passage of a BBL that is constitutional, fair and inclusive—one that will help end the decades of strife in Mindanao,” said Drilon.

“Once the committee on local government, chaired by Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., submits its report on the BBL to the body, we will immediately calendar it for discussion. We expect strong debates on the floor over the passage of this bill. We all acknowledge the necessity of this piece of legislation to ensure genuine peace and growth for our brothers and sisters in Mindanao,” he pointed out.

Drilon said the Senate would also devote attention to other bills, including economic reforms to help the country cope with regional developments, such as the ASEAN economic integration this year.

Other bills to be taken up include the proposed Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act (TIMTA) and the creation of a Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Drilon said.

The passage of TIMTA is supported by the business community. It seeks to promote transparency and accountability in the grant of tax incentives to business entities.

The creation of the DICT, also supported by the business leaders, is envisioned to help the country manage and develop its burgeoning information and communications technology sector, according to Drilon.

The Senate would also work on bills that seek to strengthen the public-private partnership program to address the infrastructure backlog in the country.

Drilon said the Senate would also work for the passage of the proposed Customs and Tariff Modernization Act (CTMA) which would reduce smuggling and make customs procedure and operations more simple and transparent.

"We intend to advance the discussions on the CTMA to address the most pressing problems of the Bureau of Customs,” he said.

Apart from putting an end to the P200 billion annual shortfall in revenues caused by smuggling and illegal transactions, Drilon said “automating the BOC’s systems and lessening human intervention would make customs procedures faster and more credible.”   

The Senate is also expected to pass on third and final reading three proposed bills when session starts on Monday. These include Senate Bill No. 2280 which seeks to amend the Probation Law of 1976, SBN 2518 which aims to remove the conditions for the condonation of all unpaid taxes due from local water districts, and House Bill No. 945 which seeks to declare the last full week of August as Armed Forces of the Filipino People Week.

Drilon said 33 Senate bills were already on advanced stages of legislation before the upper chamber went on recess last March.

The Senate would work on the following legislation: amendments to the Revised Penal Code; the proposed Unified Student Financial Assistance Act (UNIFAST) bill; the establishment of Public Employment and Services Office bill; the PAGASA Modernization Act; amendments to the AFP Modernization Act; amendments to the prescriptive period for graft and corrupt practices; and the enactment of a national identification system.

“We will work hard and do all we can to make the remaining time in our second regular session productive and meaningful by finishing the priority measures pending on the floor and advancing other key reform measures that are still at the committee level,"  Drilon explained. –end-