A cursory reading of the Anti-Money Laundering Act’s (AMLA) penal provisions nor an apology for “unintended” intimidation can never curtail the media’s freedom to report on suspicious transactions and the corruption spearheaded by public officials.

We, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, take exception with Duterte defense lawyer Mark Vinluan’s insinuation that the media can be held criminally liable for violation of the AMLA’s information security and confidentiality clauses.

Section 9 (C) of the AMLA prohibits media from reporting the fact that a covered or suspicious transaction has been reported to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), including the contents of the report or any information in relation thereto.

However, when suspicious transaction reports (STRs) are disclosed in official proceedings, especially concerning transactions of public officials, they become a matter of public interest. Hence, the right of the public to know and of the press to report on matters of public interest under the Philippine Constitution overrides the interests of public officials whose dealings are under scrutiny in the non-disclosure of these STRs.

Furthermore, Section 16 of the AMLA prevents the use of the Act as a means for political prosecution or harassment.

We are all too familiar with how the AMLA has been used to silence independent journalists in the Philippines, many of whom remain detained years after the Duterte administration launched its campaign to silence dissenters and rights advocates. The invocation by Vinluan of the said provision of the AMLA to place the transactions of a sitting vice president beyond public scrutiny is non-tangential to the imperative of civil society groups and independent journalists to uphold associational freedom and privacy so that they freely pursue their legitimate aims and purposes.

The NUJP does not take attempts to silence and intimidate journalists, whether unintended or not, lightly. Public officials and their lawyers should know better than to wield the AMLA as a threat against journalists simply for doing their jobs.

The public has the right to know. The press will continue to report on matters of public interest.

Reference: National Directorate
secretariat@nujp.org