Statement of Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto

Government must exert all efforts in seeing to it that the fruit of the loot will not harm a single Filipino.

Intelligence funds appropriated, which are in the billions of pesos, should be used to follow the money.

If some has entered the banking system, then the protocols under AMLA should kick in, to prevent it from being laundered and recirculated as a clean one.

We can only roll back terror if we stop those bankrolling it. Like any evil enterprise, money is the lifeblood of those who commit mayhem.

We stop terror by stopping its financing. In the case of P2 billion loot from Marawi, to prevent such huge sum from turning into their deadly BBL: Bombs, bullets, landmines.

So we would know the scale of the problem we are confronting, we must be able to determine the amount looted, through validated intelligence.

Other possible refuge or recycling places, like pawnshops, of stolen property, like gold and jewelry, must be put on notice by regulators to be on the lookout for any suspicious transaction.