Racela to be officer-in-charge of Anti-Money Laundering Council secretariat

January 31, 2017

Mel Georgie Racela will be officer-in-charge of the secretariat of the Anti Money Laundering Council effective Wednesday, a statement by the council said Tuesday.

Racela will take over from Julia Bacay-Abad, who sent her resignation letter on Monday after serving for four years as executive director. Bacay-Abad, according to TV news reports, will be moving to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Bacay-Abad, in her statement, said “recent developments that confronted the AMLC and its Secretariat gave me the occasion to realize that, though already resilient on its own, the Secretariat will be accorded with renewed strength through a transformed strategy.”

“To be more effective, the direction that the Secretariat will prospectively take would have to come from a new leadership. This is not a  decision that was taken lightly but I believe that this is the right time for me to voluntarily relinquish my post as the Executive Director of the Anti-Money Laundering Council Secretariat,” she added.

The council, in a statement Tuesday, said “it respects her decision to relinquish her post after 11 years of dedicated service.” On December 22, 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte voiced exasperation with the council, whom he felt was not cooperating fully in the anti-drug war of the government. Duterte threatened to revamp the council, whose chairman of central bank governor Amando Tetangco Jr, who is on his last term of office. DMS