US-RP Pact to Recover Corruption Loot

FRANKLY SPEAKING
by Frank Wenceslao

Oftentimes strange things happen in Philippine politics, or God mysteriously says enough is enough when the Filipino people have suffered for too long.

Although this is premature as counting chickens before they’re hatched, Pamusa may play an important role in the National Export Initiative announced by President Obama in his State of the Union address on Wednesday (Jan. 27) as top priority program this year. It began when I submitted last year a proposal to Ms. Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President, how the UN Corruption Against Corruption’s international cooperation provisions (UNCAC-ICP) enforced by US laws will help poor nations like the Philippines recover foreign development funds and the country’s resources stolen by Marcos, his cronies and the public officials with their conspirators through Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s administration.

To assure the cynics let me clarify that my optimism is based on President Obama’s Jan 7, 2010 and Jarrett’s emails to me expressing interest in my proposal. As a follow-through I prepared a policy paper so the NEI will impact graft and corruption in the Philippines.

Firstly, this is to serve notice that whoever frustrates the free choice by our people of their leaders in the coming May elections will be at the top of Pamusa’s targets, more so if they’ve unexplained assets in the US or other UNCAC signatories like Switzerland, etc. for FBI investigation, recovery and repatriation.

With due respect to those not involved, overseas Filipinos are up in arms against Supreme Court associate justices and Comelec commissioners for allowing to run appointed officials without resigning their positions and nuisance candidates such as Joseph Estrada et al. surely a favor for GMA to repay their “utang na loob.”

The US-RP Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty can be amended to add the recovery of illicit assets from the proceeds of corruption by the FBI, US Justice Department, the Treasury’s FINCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network), SEC, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), etc. and be repatriated in equivalent value of US exports to the Philippines such as wheat, processed foods, farm equipment, used trucks and construction equipment, and other US products whose list will be negotiated from time to time.

I’ve made it a point the U.S. and other concerned nations should help Filipinos to a free choice of their leaders in the coming May elections and make sure GMA’s term limit on June 30, 2010 stays just that. It’s internationally accepted to be almost a fact she’s covering up her alleged illicit assets including Marcos’ and their respective close associates, which has thus far prevented recovery of corruption loot.

If Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile believes Senate Committee Report No. 780 will send Sen. Manuel Villar to jail when the C-5 road project scandal is brought to court, the evidence surely will enable the FBI to investigate if Villar has violated US laws such as mail or wire fraud of transferring to the US funds illegally earned from the road project, money laundering for depositing those funds in the US banking system; Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act of investing those funds in US real estate, securities and commercial enterprises and conspiracies to commit the crimes.

Punishment for violation of RICO is the harshest on criminal act on US soil that Mafia godfathers, drug lords, terrorist financiers, and foreign public officials engaged in government corruption have found out. If Villar’s violated RICO, his presidential hopes are toast!

Haiti is a glaring example where $3 billion of U.S. foreign aid has been squandered since 1993 which if recovered from its current and former leaders’ foreign bank and investment accounts will be a big help for the nation’s rehabilitation.
Another example is Guatemala, former President Alfonso Portillo indicted in New York recently and arrested by Guatemalan police for extradition to the U.S. to face allegations his administration looted up to $1 billion of Guatemala’s funds funneled through banks in the U.S. and Europe.
Surely, Haiti’s, Guatemala’s or Philippine government will be greatly benefited when the loot of current and former corrupt officials with their co-conspirators are repatriated in equivalent U.S. exports imported by the countries. The loot of Marcos and corrupt officials through succeeding administrations, their close associates and immediate family members or private individuals and businessmen that colluded with them recoverable under UNCAC-ICP could reach $20 billion upwards.

There’ve been established precedents such as Ukraine’s former prime minister Pavlo Lazarenko sentenced to 9 years in federal prison for wire fraud, money laundering and abuse of office while Peru’s President Alberto Fujimori and his intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos were convicted based on evidence of millions of dollars of US bank deposits dug up by FBI to Peruvian courts that sentenced them to in prison up to 37 and 20 years, respectively; Nicaragua’s former President Arnoldo Aleman and several other discredited national leaders.

Included are private firms, Siemens AG fined close to $1.5 billion by the U.S. and German governments to settle corruption charges, and the Union Bank of Switzerland fined $780 million by IRS for accepting bank deposits violating U.S. tax laws.

The UBS case can be applied to recover the illicit assets of current and former Filipino public officials, their close associates and immediate family members, or private individuals that colluded with them for repatriation in equivalent value of U.S. exports tantamount to the return of development funds that would’ve been lost for good.

I believe the USIAT potentially can recover illicit assets worldwide from the proceeds of corruption and repatriate them in equivalent value of exports to claimant-nations up to $1 trillion (T) annually when the program reaches optimum efficacy.

Do the math how many jobs this amount of exports will create, state and federal revenue raised and growth to the U.S. GDP added.

Obviously, President Obama will be pushing the FBI and other federal agencies to hasten the tracing, freezing, seizure, confiscation and repatriation of the proceeds of corruption in equivalent value of US exports to turnaround the states’ such as California and federal budget deficits and create jobs to cut unemployment rate, thus stop the free fall of his job approval rating.