Philippine Senate may discuss anti-fraud bill in plenary this month
A SENATE BILL that seeks to impose harsher penalties on online investment scammers, phishers and other schemes of fraud is expected to reach the plenary for debates when the chamber resumes session on Jan. 22, according to a senator.
Senator Mark A. Villar, who heads the Senate committee on banks, swiftly ended Tuesday’s hearing on the proposed Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act after ordering members of a technical working group composed of central bank, police and communication officials to come up with recommendations.
“After we finish our technical working group meetings, we will finalize the draft substitute bill for our committee report, which we hope we will be able to submit to the plenary when the session opens,” he said.
“We have to continuously improve our legal system, if possible be two steps ahead of the scammers at all times to effectively protect the public from their nefarious acts,” he added.
Mark Anthony T. Amurao, legal counsel for e-wallet service of GCash, told the committee the payment platform is exploring more anti-fraud measures through a tie-up with the National Bureau of Investigation.
“The partnership is important for us to share expertise and knowledge — expertise to intensify our fight against cybercrimes,” he told the hearing.
Melchor T. Plabasan, a senior director at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), said they are reviewing the effectiveness of anti-fraud mechanisms of financial institutions.
“A lot of financial institutions have implemented AI (artificial intelligence) and machine-learning (to fight fraud),” he told the hearing.
The Bureau of Immigration on Jan. 13 said 128 foreign fugitives were arrested in the Philippines last year, including those wanted for investment scams and other economic crimes.
GCash in September partnered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to boost enforcement against online fraud, electronic scams and other cybercrimes.
Cybersecurity company Kaspersky in March said the Philippines ranked second among countries with the most cyberattacks worldwide in 2022.
Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John E. Uy has said the Philippines only had about 200 certified cybersecurity experts in 2022.
The Anti-Money Laundering Council earlier said the Philippines seeks to be taken off the money laundering “gray list” of the Financial Action Task Force this year.
“We should have a good grasp of the current practices in use so that we could use them to springboard additional practices we would include in the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act,” Mr. Villar said. “Trust is the currency of banking and finance.” — John Victor D. Ordoñez
