Central Bank Circular 1214 Series 2025

The 2020 COVID epidemic forced the world to go into electronic banking and commercial transactions to avoid human contamination. Technology, sensing that there is serious money in servicing all the business needs of all the people in all the nations expanded, improved and created new ways, systems to make it easier and faster for people and nations to use electronic banking as the tool for all kinds of business deals, transactions, payments. Since 2020 to 2025, more people used electronic banking as their tool/vehicle to do business and for their personal use. All banks in the world are drowning everyday in the number of banking accounts they have to service and monitor.

Sadly, some use the innocence, carelessness of people with bank accounts/deposits and grab, steal, manipulate the overwhelmed banking safe nets/firewalls. They can get/enter bank accounts and siphon the hard earned savings of honest, decent people. The ratio is for every detected illegal act, there are at least 5 undiscovered, unknown electronic stealing mainly by transferring the money from a clean account to a dirty account. The United Nations and Interpol, since the 2020 surge in banking electronic stating have improved the ways of catching criminals. One way is by allowing the government central banks of all nations to move in when they see suspicious transactions/transfer of money.

This June, the Central Bank issued Circular 1214 pursuant to its powers to investigate suspicious accounts/transactions under the Anti Financial Account Scamming act including phishing, money mulling and social engineering schemes. Circular 1214 states: “The provisions of Republic Act 1405 as amended the Secrecy of Bank deposits law, R.A. 6426, the Foreign Currency Deposit law, RA 8367, the revised Non-stock Savings and Loan association law and RA 10173, the Data Privacy Act shall not apply to any financial account subject of BSP’s investigations and inquiry.” Under Circular 1214, a government agency (NBI, Police, Finance, BIR) can ask the Central Bank’s Consume Account Protection Office (CAPO) to make a legal inquiry supported by affidavits and transaction records. The CAPO will ask the bank/financial firm to give all relevant account documents and not to tell the account holder because if the account holder is a money launderer, scammer, phisher, etc. he will run and will not be caught.

There are about 15 million Philippine bank accounts. Under Circular 1214, any bank account can be investigated if a government office (NBI, Police, BIR, Finance, Central Bank, etc.) makes a written sworn request with attached affidavits, receipts, etc. The power of the Central Bank’s Consumer Account Protection office is too broad. It is a blanket authority which is against the purpose and spirit of the Constitutional provisions. Like Article 2 Sec 4, “The prime duty of the government is to serve and protect the people”, Article III, section 1, “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law nor shall any person be denied of the equal protection of the laws” Section 3, (1.) The privacy of communication and correspondence shall be inviolable except upon lawful orders of the court as when public safety or order requires otherwise as prescribed by law. It is one thing if the Anti Financial Account Scamming law expressly says that “The secrecy of Bank deposits law, the Foreign Currency Deposit act, the Revised Non Stock savings and loan Association Act and the data Privacy Act shall not apply to any financial account subject of a Central Bank inquiry.”

Better still the 4 mentioned laws should be amended by inserting a paragraph about C.B inquiries. Republic Acts numbers 1405, 6426, 8367, and 10173 are superior to a circular issued by a government office like the Central Bank. No one is above the law. The ends do not justify the means.

This C.B circular is a shotgun approach the C.B Consumer Account Protection office is like any other government financial office. Maybe lax even if strict, any central bank employee/any government official (not necessarily from the C.B) can go in and out of the C.A.P.O. The danger is that someone can get a bank account in the C.A.P.O. The risk of many people who can get that number in the CAPO and steal the customer’s bank deposits is very great. Help! Tabang! Hoy!