FINANCIAL regulators in the Philippines have vowed closer cooperation to combat illicit funds and terrorist financing through the enhanced powers granted by Congress to the country’s anti-money laundering agency.

Watching daily news about drug busts in which the authorities seized hundreds of millions of baht in cash made me wonder what if the government took 500-baht and 1,000-baht notes out of circulation to clamp down on “dirty money”, counterfeit notes, corruption, tax evasion and bribery.