TACLOBAN CITY, LEYTE, Philippines — A nongovernmental organization (NGO) working for depressed communities in Eastern Visayas has expressed outrage over the decision of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to freeze its bank account and that of its staff members and suppliers. ADVERTISEMENT“We were shocked by AMLC freezing our organizational bank accounts, including my personal account as well as (that of) my son and my daughter-in-law who are not even members of the LCDe,” she said at a press conference on May 16. READ: AMLC freezes bank accounts of red-tagged farmers’ groupAccording to Jerusalem, they learned about the freezing only on May 2 when they went to a bank in Tacloban to withdraw some money to buy essentials. “According to the bank manager, they received a copy of the order of AMLC freezing our accounts just three hours after we arrived at the bank,” she said. LCDe’s organizational bank account, she said, contained donations amounting to more than P2 million and coming from foreign donors in Japan, South Korea, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer May 19, 2024 02:02 UTC