PDEA, ALMC sign new agreement to go after drug money launderers

March 5, 2019

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) were able to freeze a total of P2.037 billion worth of assets from suspected financiers of illegal drugs activities since 2011.

On Tuesday, the PDEA and AMLC signed a memorandum of agreement to strengthen their partnership against drug money launderers.

The MOA updated their agreement signed by the two agencies last March 8, 2004.

“Starting 2011 to 2018, this mutual agreement resulted to the freezing of about P2.037 billion worth of assets. These assets could be a cash, bank cash, or could real estate or vehicles,” PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino said in his speech during the signing ceremony in Quezon City.

“So for the past seven years, AMLC and PDEA did a lot of things and hopefully for the coming years we can do more and freeze more assets,” he added.

AMLC Executive Director Mel Georgie Racela said in accordance with President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti- drug campaign, more efforts were made by the two agencies that resulted in an increasing trend in the value of assets subject of forfeiture proceedings.

“The highest impact can be seen in 2017, which amounted to around P819 million and in 2018, P810 million has been the subject of our freeze order,” Racela said.

Racela said if this amount will be converted to drugs, it will be worth a total of P18 billion.

He added the biggest drug lord whose assets they were able to freeze is Peter Co who died in a 2018 ambush in Batangas. 

“The total (assets) we froze in coordination with our PDEA partners are approximately around 700 million pesos, that’s only Peter Co,” said Racela

In 2016, Co was injured in a stabbing incident in the maximum security compound in New Bilibid Prisons.

“This is in coordination with our law enforcement agencies partners and if we don’t have MOA like this, we will not have evidence to establish money laundering offense. We will not be able freeze their assets and will not be subject in seeking forfeiture case,” said Racela. 

Aquino admitted that finding evidences against financier of narco-terrorism is the hardest part.

“As I said earlier, especially the financiers, they are not the one holding the illegal drugs and this is the hardest part,” he said.

“So what we are now doing with AMLC… this is very, very important because this is the only way we can file a case especially to those who are involved in drugs... You can’t find evidence and the only way to find evidence is when you conducted a financial investigation,” Aquino added.

He said they are studying on how to get a percentage from the frozen assets, like what their American counterparts get.

“For PDEA, we are trying also to conduct a study on how these assets, a certain percentage of it will be given back to PDEA just like what USDEA is doing if they were able to freeze and forfeit assets,” said Aquino.

“I just hope it will proceed as we in PDEA are lacking in term of budget… all (assets) we will seize will eventually be used...by our agency,” he said, adding that for 2019, 40 percent of their budget was cut. 

Aquino said workshops and exchange of notes with AMLC continue to improve capacities of their agents.

Under the MOA, it will be easier for PDEA agents to request information about narco-terrorism as they establish an improved feedback mechanism with AMLC.

“We are glad and very thankful that today we have a new MOA between AMLC and PDEA so  there will be better coordination and cooperation between the two agencies,” said Aquino.  Ella Dionisio/DMS