THE government, implementing the newly approved Anti-Terrorism Law, has shown initial results in the fight against terrorism and lawlessness by closing the faucet, so to speak. The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has been provided by the law with a legal mantle to run after the bank accounts and other assets of known terrorists, among them those who advocate to bring down the government by force of arms.
Targets of these freeze-the-assets operations are the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) which is the embryo of the communist-led government which the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army are dreaming to establish, aside from the jihadist Muslim terrorists who may be planning another Marawi siege.
Don’t get the AMLC wrong. They are freezing the assets only of known personalities and institutions who have been identified by the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) as terrorists.
‘This latest AMLC initiative will
hopefully stave off one or two
bombing attempts by the Abu Sayyaf or a couple of land mines attack by the New People’s Army, and save precious Filipino lives in the process.’
The ATC stressed that subject of the freeze order are “property or funds that are wholly or jointly owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the NDFP; and of persons or entities acting on behalf or at the direction of the Front.”
The Council did not release the names of CPP and NDFP personalities whose assets have been frozen, but we surmise that they are the so-called CPP Central Committee members who had been earlier identified by the ATC.
Also placed on hold are the accounts of 20 people, including Radullan Sahiron, Gagandilan Magang, Sansibar Saliddin Bensio of the Abu Sayyaf Group.
As seasoned fighters and ideologues, these terrorists are adept at hiding their identities, handling illicit funds and all the money laundering techniques used locally and abroad. One can just imagine the difficulty the ALMC is encountering in following the terrorist money trail, even with the help of modern computer technology.
Earlier this year, the AMLC froze three bank accounts worth P600,000 of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines-Haran Center in Davao City. The freeze order also covered a lot and building owned by Brokenshire Integrated Health Ministries Inc. The government charged that this member of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines is contributing money to “finance terrorism” and the center indoctrinated the Lumads (tribal Filipinos) with “communist ideals.”
This latest AMLC initiative will hopefully stave off one or two bombing attempts by the Abu Sayyaf or a couple of land mines attack by the New People’s Army, and save precious Filipino lives in the process. This is what the Anti-Terrorism Act passed by Congress and signed by President Duterte intends to do.
