by Mai Gacilo Sangalang / Published on BusinessMirror September 3, 2025
MONEY can be used to do good and bad things; to help or exploit other people. We know that excessive desire and greed for money leads to unethical practices, actions and many of the societal problems such as corruption, terrorism, trafficking, financial crimes such as theft, fraud, money laundering, and many others.
With all the noise right now surrounding alleged anomalies in flood control projects, with accusations of malversation and diversion of funds to hefty kickbacks and commissions, clearly there’s massive corruption across multiple levels and layers to steal public funds intended for social services and infrastructure development.
For bribery and corruption to prosper, a collusion needs to take place and be able to circumvent mechanisms of authorities and carry out bid rigging in procurement or in contract selection and awarding.
The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) is now looking into suspicious transactions linked to these flood control projects, a basic function which it usually does, and as part of its mandate to protect and preserve the integrity of the financial system.
Money laundering enables illegal or ‘dirty money’ to appear legitimate through three core stages: placement, layering and integration. Oftentimes money disguised as ‘clean money’ is hard to detect because money launderers break large sums of money to avoid detection and scrutiny. They operate legal businesses or ‘wash’ dirty money through a front business or shell company in cash heavy industries like real estate, gambling and construction, and deposit funds into the business’s bank account. Remember, money laundering can only be successful if dirty funds enter the financial system.
Financial institutions are crucial in fighting financial crimes and preventing their integration into the financial system by identifying and reporting suspicious transactions, implementing “know your customer” and “customer due diligence” processes, and fostering industry-wide collaboration.
Banks act as the first line of defense – implement effective customer due diligence, robust transaction monitoring systems, work with regulators and government agencies, and ensure that their employees are equipped with knowledge to detect and prevent financial crime.
Suspicious transaction reports and covered transactions reports are submitted to the AMLC within a specified period for suspicious cash activities, unusual transactions that deviate from a customer’s usual patterns, large cash deposits without adequate explanation, discrepancies in provided documentation or client information, etc.
Banks have zero tolerance policy for financial crimes and should continue building stronger, more sophisticated defences—compliance and controls, effective monitoring, detection, transparency, strong governance, robust sanctions and culture to combat financial crimes.
Failure to report and arrest financial crimes can lead to severe sanctions, significant financial loss, reputational damage, legal consequences and enforcement actions such as suspension or revocation of license to operate and even business closure.
My source from the AMLC said that “industry vigilance and cooperation are foundations for a robust anti-money laundering framework. Industry cooperation through effective sharing of intelligence and vigilance through immediate reporting of suspicious transactions help prevent money laundering to proceed, and result in potential threats being neutralized prior to causing systemic harm.”
The Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines (BMAP) and its member banks are at the center of this and play an active part in amplifying the efforts of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the AMLC and the industry in increasing public awareness and education on financial crime.
I echo what Elizabeth Lee, chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries said in an interview recently: “Never underestimate the value of integrity… it’s not just concrete that cracks—it’s public trust, industry stability, and the safety of our communities.”
Mai Gacilo Sangalang is the immediate past president of the Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines (BMAP) and currently its director for Industry Relations, Banking Code and Financial Inclusion. Sangalang is the head of Corporate Affairs, Brand and Marketing of Standard Chartered Bank Philippines. She can be reached by emailing maigsangalang@yahoo.com. The writer’s views do not necessarily reflect those of Standard Chartered Bank, the BusinessMirror and the BMAP.