Guingona underlines importance of Senate blue ribbon committee hearings

• Source:http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1371459477833/guingona-underlines-importance-of-senate-blue-ribbon-committee-hearings-
• Saturday, April 2, 2016

By Gideon C. Corgue (ALT/GCC/PIA9/ZamboSur)

PAGADIAN CITY (PIA) – Senator Teofisto “TG” Guingona III, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee underscored the importance of the hearings conducted by the government against corruption.

Guingona, the champion of good governance and enemy of corruption was the keynote speaker in the grand culmination program of the 2016 Women’s Month Celebration spearheaded by the Women Empowerment Movement-Rural Improvement Club (WEM-RIC) on Thursday at the Amusement and Events Center, Provincial Capitol Complex here.

In a press conference following the said program, Guingona said casino agent Kim Wong testified before the Senate blue ribbon committee on March 29 and vehemently denied that he had neither knowledge nor participation in the entry and transmittal of stolen funds to the Philippines via RCBC which eventually ended up in Midas and Solaire casinos.

Guingona said Kim Wong delivered $4.63 million to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) office at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) headquarters in Manila.

“Nalipay ko nga adunay maayo nga resulta sa gipahigayon nga hearings tungod kay pipila sa mga kinawat nga kwarta nabalik sa nasud nga Bangladesh (I am happy that there are good results in the hearings because some of the stolen money were returned to Bangladesh),” Guingona exclaimed.

With this initiative, Guingona is optimistic that the stature of the Philippines in the world has been restored.

“Malaumon ako nga mabalik nato ang dungog sa atong nasud isip masaligan sa financial system ug ang atong mga bangko dili modawat sa kwarta nga mga kinawat (I am optimistic that we could regain our good reputation, with a reliable and trustworthy financial system and that our banks will not accept stolen money),” Guingona opined.

“Kinahanglang ipakita nato sa tibuok kalibutan nga ang Pilipinas dili mosugot nga tagoanan sa kinawat nga kwarta (We need to show to the world that the Philippines will not be a hiding place of stolen money),” Guingona declared.

The good senator said the scam had a negative impact to the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) adding that remittance companies and banks of 14 countries were closed. “With this, our OFWs will experience difficulty in sending money to their families in our country,” he concluded.