Senator Mark Villar successfully leads Committee Hearing on the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA)

Senator Mark Villar, Chairperson of the Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies successfully led the discussion on 3 Senate Resolutions, 6 Senate Bills, and 1 House Bill, collectively called the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act or AFASA.

"There is a dramatic rise in cyber financial crimes such as online selling scams, investment scams, loan scams, and love scams among others. We are made aware that these kinds of schemes and scams are rapidly evolving," Senator Villar said.

Senator Mark Villar expresses his distaste for the heinous acts of scammers and opportunists who are continuously victimizing Filipinos. He reiterates the need for a legislative measure that not only provides for a penalty after the fact but one that effectively responds to or even prevents criminals from facilitating these scams.

"Trust is the currency of banking and finance. We need to strengthen our financial institutions para mapanatag ang ating mga kapwa Pilipino to conduct their financial transactions," Senator Mark exclaimed.

During the hearing, Senator Mark posed inquiries to the stakeholders present including the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Gcash, and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) among others, on the current security measures being used by financial institutions to secure transactions between and among consumers.

"We should have a good grasp of the current practices in use so that we could use them to springboard the additional practices that we would include in AFASA. We have to continuously improve our legal system, and if possible, be two steps ahead of the scammers at all times to effectively protect the public from their nefarious acts," Senator Mark insisted.

The public hearing of AFASA has been moved to its close as the committee will move to the formation of a technical working group (TWG). The TWG will be conducted to finalize the substitute bill for AFASA.