Typologies of Terrorist Financing
The meetings called by Vic Aquino, executive director of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), of the Financial Sector Liason Committee (FSLC) are among those I try my best to every time attend.  There is always something new to learn; always some interesting person to meet; not to mention, always a reasonable lunch or merienda to put a gustatory touch to the digestion of the ideas of well-chosen presentors.  The 12th FSLC Meeting held on 13 May 2009 at the Turf Room, Manila Polo Club, Makati City, was no exception. In the morning meeting held that day, Vic Aquino unveiled his jewel, Ms. Mary Rose M. Alim of the AMLC Secretariat, who gave a most informative  powerpoint presentation on Terrorist Financing Typologies. Click for Complete Article
 

A Pinay Englisher
I thought I knew English.  After all, though technically my “second language”, English was the tongue I grew up in and is the habitual idiom of my advanced years.  English was my competitive edge over my deep Tagalog talking classmates at Lakan Dula Elementary School and Torres High School of Tondo. It was the secret handshake that made me one with the native Ateneans of Loyola Heights. And it has always been the tool of my trade at my legal workplace. Comfortable and complacent was I with my command of English.
Until last week when I chanced upon Gloria Azul Agas, who holds a Ph. D from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA., in the office of Professor Eduardo Aro Labitag at the UP Law Center in Diliman, Quezon City.  Professor Labitag commended to my reading a book Dr. Agas recently authored, “An Englisher” subtitled “Some Bits of Basic English Matters.”  ...
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Secrecy of deposits in closed banks
It was never clear to me how the word “minute” in the phrase “minute resolution” is correctly pronounced.  For many, “minute”, is to be pronounced “min’it”, as in “Minutes of the meeting,” to stress the resolution’s character as a summary but official record of proceedings of the process of an organization or agency.  I however prefer, to say “mī-nyoot,” to indicate its being exceptionally small or short.
Regardless of how it is pronounced, however, the function of a “minute resolution” is beyond debate:  It is used to enable the Supreme Court to focus on the more meaningful cases that annually swamp the tribunal crying for decision.
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Splitting hairs about splitting deposits
One of the more difficult issues to tackle in any bank deposit insurance regime is the question of splitting of deposits.  Splitting, in general, occurs when a bank account is broken up into smaller accounts. On the one hand, there is really nothing wrong, per se, in breaking up a deposit account.  After all, it is well within a depositor’s legitimate discretion to decide not only how much money to deposit with a bank but also under what terms and conditions some or all of his money is to be cared for by the bank. 
On the other hand, the notorious Legacy Group’s collapse demonstrates how a mind like Celso de los Angeles’ could construct a business model founded on the statutory guarantee of PDIC coverage.
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