(Eagle News) — A congressman is seeking to exempt government officials and employees from the ban on the disclosure of deposits in banking institutions under the Bank Secrecy Law.
Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano’s House Bill No. 3155 says the ban on the disclosure should not apply to “elective or appointed officials” or employees of the Republic of the Philippines.
He said this includes ” the officers and members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, and all members of the uniformed services, and officers and employees of government-owned and -controlled corporations and their subsidiaries.”
In May, Alejano filed an impeachment complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte for his alleged involvement in the supposed Davao Death Squad, the supposed ghost employees of the Davao government when Duterte was mayor, the President’s approach in handling the West Philippine Sea row with China, the bloody war on drugs, and his alleged unexplained wealth.
But the House committee on justice effectively dismissed the complaint as “insufficient in substance,” after Alejano admitted many of his accusations in the impeachment complaint were not of his “personal knowledge.”
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who, like Alejano, is a member of the Magdalo group that led a mutiny in Oakwood in Makati years back, also recently accused Duterte’s son Paolo and son-in-law Mans Carpio of, among others, having more than P100 million each in their bank accounts.
The two have denied the allegations.
It was also Trillanes who accused the President, then the Davao mayor who was running for the highest position in the country, of having unexplained wealth.
He however stepped back citing the need for reconciliation and peace after Duterte won the presidency.