Marjorie A.

Pagsinuhin TTH 8:30 -

10:00AM
BSA 46234 Ms. Clarize
Mabiog

REACTION PAPER: Dirty Money

Last weekend, we were tasked to watch an episode of the Dirty Money
documentary series with the episode’s title as “Cartel Bank”. This film is about how the
Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was enabling drug cartels and terrorists
to launder their huge amounts—maybe even millions of dollars of money straight into
the financial system.
After watching the film, I cannot explain my huge disappointment on how this
case of the HSBC turned out. They were caught and guilty too many times already, so
how did the US Department of Justice came up with only a deferred prosecution
agreement with them? It was a dismay, but it safe to say that I am not really surprised. It
was a simple question of why but somehow complicated to think about the answer.
Maybe the US-DOJ is telling the truth, that suspending HSBC would have a really huge
impact on the country’s economy. Or maybe they were telling white lies, that the
economy is indeed affected because the terrorists or drug lords gave them threats of
shutting down multiple business chains, assuming that lots of income is deeply rooted
from the operations of these bad people. My very imaginative mind was also thinking
maybe the terrorists or drug lords threatened the officials of the government, saying that
they will not only kill them but also the lives of their families are at stake. Or maybe the
authorities are also getting bribed with lots and lots of money.
All of these may not be the truth, but they are very possible scenarios. One thing
everyone knows is for sure, that HSBC bank violated not only a number of international
banking laws and accounting principles, but they also disrupted the very human lives
and rights of all the innocent who got killed by the terrorists and cartels due to the
bank’s association with them.
When I searched the internet if the case was reconsidered, I was disappointed
again as the results showed me that the case was closed. The HSBC bank really got off
easily. Now I can’t help but think of how it is closely similar to the situation is here in the
Philippines, how law-breaking citizens and big firms was let go off their hideous crimes,
and why? Because they can. They have the power and money to influence our very
own government officials, albeit how worse their deeds are. Our country is corrupted,
not so different from the other countries, maybe even worst of the worse. The missing
typhoon funds, the extra-judicial killings, the NPA and Lumad killings, the POGO case,
the bullet-planting, the P15B missing Philhealth funds, pork barrel scams. It was
immoral, brutal even. Especially for those who were at the marginal side of the society,
barely surviving and in need of good administration to improve their way of living.
 My conclusion is, money may have tremendous power to anyone, but we, future
accountants and accountants always see the truth in numbers. In our own hands, we
have the power to adjust entries, correct numbers, check errors, avoid fraudulent
transactions. We have to stick to our own principles and morals, not only because it is
our job, but also because we want to de-normalize corruption and to have a safer future.