The reported $81 million money laundering scandal has placed the country in a very bad light as far as the international banking community is concerned.
As of this writing, the Philippine government has no idea how the huge amount of money has been withdrawn from a local branch of RCBC in Makati without the knowledge of banking officials and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
The Philippine government should exert every effort to unmask the perpetrator of the crime and to find out if some RCBC officials were involved in the heist. The earlier government officials will be able to unravel the mystery behind the incredible heist, the better to placate and assure bank depositors that their accounts are safe.
It was reported in the papers that the $81 million was wired to four RCBC accounts under the names of Enrico Vasquez, Alfred Vergara, Michael Cruz and Jessie Christopher Lagrosas.
Bank officials from Bangladesh who attended a Senate investigation regarding the disappearance of the $81 million, told lawmakers that computer hackers stole the money from its account deposited at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Police authorities should start looking for the four Filipinos who had an active bank accounts with RCBC to help solve the mystery of the stolen money or go after one William So Go who allegedly got the “loot” when it was deposited on his account after it was withdrawn from the RCBC branch office on Jupiter street in Makati. Maia Santos Deguito, the RCBC branch manager has refused to issue a statement, most probably out of fear that she might incriminate herself in the crime, or she is protecting the interest of higher RCBC officials.
In the Philippines, we do not only have cheaters, liars, plunderers. We now have computer hackers. Maybe they can also go into the computer system of Comelec to ensure that either Senator “Poequino Llamanzares or Mar Roxas will emerge victorious in the May elections.
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Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and other officials of the Department of National Defense (DND) have been charged with plunder before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the multi-billion chopper deal.
Let us wait and see if Ombudsman Conchita Morales, a known stooge of President Aquino, will immediately act on the case or, at least, suspend the officials facing charges to prevent them from destroying any evidence pertaining to the aborted deal.
The plunder charges were filed by Rhodora Alvarez, an employee of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Alvarez testified in a Senate hearing two years ago, claiming that DND and Air Force officials colluded to allow their favored contractor to bag the negotiated contract worth P1.25 billion for the purchase of 21 refurbished Huey combat helicopters.
When the story about the alleged collusion came out, Gazmin and his “associates” scrapped the deal to avoid embarrassment and prosecution.
Ombudsman Morales has been known to sit on all criminal cases involving KKK and close friends and relatives of the President. Take the case of dismissed former PNP Chief Alan Purisima. Corruption charges were filed against him for almost a year now, yet nothing has been done about his case.
Purisima is a disgrace not only to the Philippine National Police (PNP) but also to Freemasonry, one of the oldest fraternal organizations in the world. Purisima used to be the Grandmaster of the Freemasonry in the Philippines before his dismissal.