DAVAO CITY – Running mates Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte and Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano are pushing for the lifting of bank secrecy law for public officials saying this will prevent corrupt officials from amassing billions worth of stolen wealth from the public.
“Sa Pilipinas, ‘pag nagnakaw ng kaunti, nakukulong, ‘pag nagnakaw ng marami, nagiging senador o bise president (Here in the country if you steal a little you get imprisoned but if you still big, you become a senator or vice president),” Cayetano said in a statement on Thursday, March 10.
He added that the country’s bank secrecy law, which is among the strictest in the world, has become a major stumbling block on resolving many corruption and money laundering cases in the public sector.
Cayetano said if elected, he and Duterte will push for a measure allowing the full disclosure of bank accounts of officials accused of graft and corruption. They will also pass an anti-dummy law that will prevent public officials from hiding their true assets in dummy bank accounts.
“By promoting transparency and accountability among our public servants, we can be sure that there would be no more Binay-like or Marcos-like plunder of the people’s money,” Cayetano said. (davaotoday.com)
