Bangko Sentral, pabor na alisin ang Bank Secrecy Law
When all it takes is 4 pages to amend it?
Download the Filed Bill at the House of Representatives
Download the Filed Bill at the Senate
Kapatiran Party filed via ‘indirect initiative’ on Wednesday, 27 August 2025, in both Houses of Congress a proposed bill titled, SECRECY OF BANK DEPOSITS ACT OF 2025, amending R.A. 1405 (Bank Secrecy Law).
INDIRECT INITIATIVE. R.A. 6735 (Initiative and Referendum Act of 1989) provides for the exercise of ‘indirect initiative’ by accredited people’s organization through a proposed bill sent to Congress, and warrants that such initiative bill shall have precedence over the pending legislative measures on the committee. The filing of the initiative bill seeks in part to compel the immediate holding of committee hearings by the Bank and Financial Intermediaries Committee and with the widest participation of stakeholders, without which similarly sponsored bills now pending, three in Senate and two in the House of Representatives, could be shelved as has been the practice.
R.A. 1405. This law was enacted in 1955 or more than half a century ago to encourage Filipinos to deposit their money in banks instead of hoarding them by guaranteeing the privacy of banking transactions, where no one, unless via a court order or waiver, can access records of those transactions. According to former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor Amando Tetangco, the Philippines remains one of only three countries in the world (with Lebanon and North Korea) that have ultrastrict bank secrecy laws. So outdated is this law that we keep failing in going after elected and appointed officials in government, rent seekers in business, and elements of criminal syndicates, suspected or accused of graft because there is no money trail. In this law lies the perpetration of greed paid for by the poor.
THE INITIATIVE BILL. The proposed SECRECY OF BANK DEPOSITS ACT OF 2025 takes from House Bill No. 8991 of the 18th Congress which the BSP supports and continues to advance, to provide some form of deterrent for possible fraud, unlawful activity, or irregularity. The initiative bill proposes to ease our bank secrecy law by one knot with a third exception in cases where the inquiry or examination is made by the BSP, provided that there is reasonable ground to believe that fraud, serious irregularity, or unlawful activity has been or is being committed by persons and that it is necessary to look into the deposit to establish such fraud, irregularity, or unlawful activity.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), there is a compelling rationale for amending the Philippines’ unusually strict bank secrecy regulations so that law enforcement and financial regulators have complete and direct access to depositor information. It also said that the Philippines would be able to remove itself from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “grey list” by revising governing bank secrecy rules.
PBBM on 25 August 2025 led the nation in commemorating National Heroes’ Day and asked Filipinos to join his fight against corruption saying: “Let us work together to fight corruption. Let us fight the abuse of power. Let us resist the trampling of our rights. For this is the only way we can achieve a more prosperous, more just, and stronger Bagong Pilipinas.”
This initiative bill is a concrete response to the widespread call for an end to corruption. Citizens, civil society, private sector leaders, labor, religious leaders, and independent media must continue taking actions to advance the cause of amending bank secrecy. By mobilizing collective action across sectors, insisting on transparency and accountability, we can ensure that Filipinos and our nation can have a better future.
The BSP on bank secrecy at the Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions & Currencies 20th Congress, 6 October 2025
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