The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) confirmed on Tuesday that it has coordinated with concerned government offices to verify reports which claimed that two syndicates had managed to smuggle dirty money worth around $370 million or roughly P18.78 billion into the Philippines through the aid –knowingly or not — of some military, police and airport escorts.
Brigadier General Edgard Arevalo, AFP spokesperson, said it will conduct its own investigation to the report released by the Department of Finance (DoF) which quoted Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero as saying that crime syndicates “Chinese” and “Rodriguez” had sneaked into the country some $167.97 million and $200.24 million, respectively.
Arevalo admitted that the military only heard of the information from news outlets that released it ever since Senator Richard Gordon flagged the entry of the dirty money which, the lawmaker warned, could possibly be used in criminal activities.
According to the DoF report, Guerrero had confirmed Gordon’s information that the “Chinese” crime syndicate smuggled the money between December 2019 to January 2020 while “Rodriguez” brought theirs from July 2019 to January 2020.
There were reportedly “couriers” bringing luggage full of cash upon arrival in main airports where they escape strict security protocols because they were being escorted by military, police and airport personnel. (Martin Sadongdong)
