SAGIP Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

SAGIP Party-List Rep. Rodante Marcoleta has called Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia's "bluff"--that is, his attempt to appear innocent in the offshore bank accounts issue. 

Marcoleta, in an exposé last week, did not name the ranking Comelec official whose alleged offshore bank accounts recorded at least $2.1 million (₱120 million) in deposits, from persons related to Miru Systems Co. Ltd. 

Miru is the controversial South Korean firm that bagged Comelec's P18-billion automated election system (AES) contract for the 2025 Philippine mid-term elections. Marcoleta is one of a handful of congressmen who are having serious doubts about Miru's ability to deliver a credible AES. 

Garcia had quickly come out in the open after Marcoleta's insinuation of corruption in the questionable system procurement, and claimed that it was a "demolition job" against him and the Comelec---he being the poll body's top official. 

“Garcia's claim is a diversion, a red herring to say the least. Why would anyone even attempt to demolish a constitutional body?” Marcoleta said in a statement Monday, July 15. 

"According to Republic Act (RA) 1405, or the Bank Secrecy Act, a valid waiver only applies to banks operating in the Philippines. In the case of offshore bank accounts, a court order is required to compel a foreign jurisdiction to look into suspicious transactions," Marcoleta, a lawyer, pointed out. 

"That being the case, any inquiry or investigation into these reported accounts in foreign banks that are beyond Philippine jurisdiction, or any transaction made in regard to such accounts, must require the involvement of their foreign governments, and shall be subject to the respective bank secrecy laws of such foreign jurisdictions," he explained. 

Marcoleta lamented that issuing such a waiver of secrecy of bank deposits to domestic law enforcement and investigative agencies--such the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Office of the Ombudsman, among others--even if mandated by the Constitution and Philippine laws, neither empowers such agencies, nor produces any legal effect in foreign jurisdictions. 

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"Even RA 9160, or the Anti-Money Laundering Act, limits the power of the AMLC to merely making a request to any foreign state for assistance, and subject still to limitations that the laws of foreign states may impose," he noted. 

Amid these legal restrictions that may get in the way of investigating the questionable offshore bank accounts and supposed flow of bribe money from Miru, the SAGIP solon urged Garcia to closely collaborate with the House committee that will eventually take up and investigate the issue. 

At any rate, Marcoleta welcomed Garcia's commitment to cooperate with the House of Representatives. 

"If Chairman Garcia is willing to cooperate, the rest of the Comelec's commissioners should also be encouraged to come forward to prove their own -- and ultimately the entire poll body's innocence,” said the former deputy speaker. 

Marcoleta reiterated his appeal to scrap the controversial Comelec-Miru deal.