{"id":247184,"date":"2020-03-05T20:33:55","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T01:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=247184"},"modified":"2020-03-05T20:33:55","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T01:33:55","slug":"gordon-wants-rodriguez-family-to-shed-light-on-money-laundering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/03\/05\/gordon-wants-rodriguez-family-to-shed-light-on-money-laundering\/","title":{"rendered":"Gordon wants \u2018Rodriguez family\u2019 to shed light on money laundering"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
In an interview, Gordon alleged that the Rodriguez family members are apparently mules used by organized syndicates to bring in large amounts of \u201cdirty money\u201d into the Philippines. (File photo<\/a>: Cesar Tomambo via Senate of the Philippines\/ Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Senator Richard Gordon on Thursday said he wants members of a certain \u201cRodriguez family\u201d to attend the next hearing of the Blue Ribbon Committee to shed light on their participation in the alleged entry of huge amounts of dirty money into the country.<\/p>\n

In an interview, Gordon alleged that the Rodriguez family members are apparently mules used by organized syndicates to bring in large amounts of \u201cdirty money\u201d into the Philippines.<\/p>\n

The chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee said an estimated USD633 million, or around PHP32 billion, in cold cash was \u201csuspiciously\u201d brought into the country in the last seven months alone by around 60 individuals, which included the Rodriguez\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Gordon said of the total amount, USD283 million were brought in by members of the Rodriguez family, particularly a certain Elizabeth who was able to bring in USD42.5 million from September 2019 to February this year.<\/p>\n

He said another family member, a certain Simon John, was held by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) officers on Sept. 26, 2019, for failing to declare USD700,000 in cash upon his arrival from Singapore at NAIA Terminal 2.<\/p>\n

Despite his arrest, Simon John was still allowed to travel at least 40 times, during which he transported a total of USD32.6 million, Gordon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust last night (Wednesday), at least three members of their family were again caught bringing in millions of dollars to the country. As before, they were released after declaring the money,\u201d Gordon told reporters after the hearing.<\/p>\n

He said the amount comprises of HKD30 million, USD700,000, and USD600,000.<\/p>\n

Gordon said the assumption that an organized syndicate is behind the Rodriguez\u2019s is bolstered by the fact that the family brings in the money with seeming impunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t\u2019 lose USD700,000, it was confiscated, but then you still continue. That means they’re doing this for other people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir admitting (declaring) it doesn\u2019t prove provenance, where the money came from. Somebody\u2019s making money out of this,\u201d Gordon said.<\/p>\n

At least seven members of the Rodriguez family, including Elizabeth and Simon John, were invited to appear in Thursday\u2019s hearing, but were not able to attend allegedly due to \u201clack of preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gordon said the Rodriguez\u2019s may just be buying time and taking notes of the proceedings \u201cto find out if we have anything on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPag dumating mga<\/em>\u00a0Rodriguez,\u00a0dyan magkaka-alaman san nanggagaling yang pera<\/em>\u00a0(When the Rodriguez\u2019s appear, we are going to find out where the money came from). Where the money is coming from is a matter of national interest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will arrest them if they do not appear in the next hearing,\u201d Gordon said.<\/p>\n

The next hearing of the Blue Ribbon Committee on the money laundering issue is set on March 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Senator Richard Gordon on Thursday said he wants members of a certain \u201cRodriguez family\u201d to attend the next hearing …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":91423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-jose-cielito-reganit","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247185,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247184\/revisions\/247185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}