Cold Cash Chinese Creeping Invasion?
March 3, 2020CitizenWatch Philippines is calling on legislators and regulators for the immediate investigation and action on the suspiciously heavy influx of cash carried by Chinese nationals entering the country.
According to news reports, more than $160 million in Chinese cash (P8.19 billion) torrentially entered our country in an apparent money-laundering scheme, some of whom individually carried $5 million.
Cold cash at these exorbitant amounts can be used for corruption and financing heavily armed criminal groups that may in time become a serious threat to our national security. These are monies from unknown sources that can be easily “cleaned” thru money laundering schemes.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Circular No. 507 issued in January 2006 states that residents and non-residents who carry more than $10,000, or its equivalent in other foreign currencies, into or out of the country must disclose to the Bureau of Customs (BOC) the source and purpose of the funds, along with their personal information.
We also call upon the Anti-Money Laundering Council, the BOC, and the Bureau of Immigration to act immediately to arrest this alarming situation.
Chinese travelers entering the country are now dominated by workers of POGO operations and has spawned a “pastillas” bribery scheme which in our view, is linked to the facilitating the flow of millions of hand-carried cash.
This exposes a gaping hole in our immigration and customs procedures that government must plug. For this to happen with seemingly systematic ease, there must have been collusion from government agencies who directly process these Chinese visitors. The whole scenario reeks of yet another corrupt syndicate operating a lucrative bribery operation.
CitizenWatch Philippines fully supports Senator Richard J. Gordon in his initiative to convene a Senate Blue Ribbon Hearing to get to the bottom of this issue that is of serious national interest.
Important questions must be answered:
Why was this allowed to happen?
Where did all the cash come from? Where does the money go after being laundered?
Is this a clever strategy to weaponize cold cash for a creeping Chinese invasion?
CITIZENWATCH PHILIPPINES