Regulatory failure

In the age of online banking, and amid the government’s aggressive move toward digitalization, cash transactions are rarely needed. And massive cash withdrawals should attract the attention of banks.

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Landbank branch manager Lilibeth Lim told the Senate Blue Ribbon committee chaired by Lacson that she saw nothing irregular because the amounts were covered by notices of cash allocations from the Department of Public Works and Highways.

By law, single bank transactions involving more than P500,000 are supposed to be reported to banking regulators and anti-money laundering authorities.

Yet no red flags were raised at the Malolos Highway branch of the state-run Land Bank of the Philippines when a private contractor withdrew nearly half a billion pesos in cash in a single transaction, not just once but two times this year.