The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will not comply with a “money ban” that the Commission on Elections has announced as a measure to prevent vote buying in the elections next Monday.
The ban, which limits withdrawals and check encashments to P100,000, would require violating the secrecy of bank accounts, the BSP said in a BusinessWorld report.
“Limiting cash withdrawal and check clearing beyond P100,000 may disrupt normal business and commercial transactions in the Philippines,” the central bank also said.
Banks have no plans of recognizing the ban without an order from the BSP. “It is business as usual for us. We haven’t received directives from our regulators,” Bankers Association of the Philippines president Lorenzo Tan also said in the report.
The ban also prohibits the possession and transport of more than P500,000 in cash, with the Comelec resolution making it indicative of an intent to buy votes.
This has not been a good week for the Comelec, with the Supreme Court issuing a Temporary Restraining Order on Wednesday on its resolution to extend a two-day liquor ban to five days.
Petitioners Food and Beverage Inc and International Wines and Spirits Association Inc. said the extended liquor ban was arbitrarily imposed, would cause them “irreparable damage”, and went beyond the ban imposed by the Omnibus Election Code.
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Photo: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
