MANILA – The Central Bank governor on Thursday hopes to get the support of both chambers of Congress in pushing for its legislative agenda.
“There are still pending laws. It’s important to have the support of both houses of Congress because it takes two houses to approve a bill,” said Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno.
On ANC’s “Headstart,” Diokno said they hope to get favorable response from the Senate and House of Representatives in pushing for the approval of pending bills including the Bank Secrecy Law.
“It’s an anti-corruption and anti-terrorism measure. It opens up more money for productive use,” Diokno said.
Diokno said there could be a lot of resistance with the bill.
“We know that maybe some people will resist this. I think you have to provide some leeway. You give them 3 years to clear up everything. You have to pass it now and then maybe give a transition period of 3 years for people to clear up the transactions,” he said.
The BSP chief said they already gave this to President Rodrigo Duterte as their own contribution to his legislative agenda.
“It’s up to him if he will mention it in his State of the Nation Address or maybe it’s in the document submitted to Congress,” he said.
Meanwhile, Diokno also thanked the previous Congress for approving several structural reforms, including increasing the capitalization of the BSP and approving the National ID system, the Islamic Banking Law, and the anti-hacking law. (ABS-CBN News)
