Philippines Stays On Dirty Money Gray List

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor and Anti-Money Laundering Council chairman Felipe Medalla said the Philippines remains on the gray list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring of the global dirty watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Medalla said the country has until January next year to prove it could address strategic deficiencies and enforce measures to counter money laundering and terrorist financing.

“We have clearly missed the first deadline. The first deadline was this January. We are now given a year until January 2024,” Medalla said.

Since it was included in the graylist in June 2021, the Philippines worked actively to meet the January 2023 deadline set by FATF.

The FATF wants the Philippines to enhance and streamline law enforcement agencies’ access to beneficial ownership information and ensure that information is accurate and up-to-date.

The FTAF also said the Philippines should also increase the use of financial intelligence and money laundering investigations and prosecutions.

Medalla said the Philippines needs to enhance its targeted financial sanctions framework and show a higher number of prosecutions of terrorism financing cases and convictions.

Furthermore, Medalla met with Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla for the faster prosecution and conviction of violators of Republic Act 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), as amended.

“We had a meeting with the Department of Justice, and they said that if we’re only more diligent in having a system that truly brings out all the real prosecution and conviction, the numbers will be much higher,” Medalla said.

He also said that the solution would require a whole of government approach.

The Philippines was included on the FATF’s blacklist in June 2000 but was removed from the list in February 2005 after the passage of Republic Act 9180 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) of 2001, followed by the creation of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) via RA 9194 in 2003.

Since then, the Philippines has been in and out of the gray list until it was reincluded under increased monitoring in June 2021 despite the enactment of RA 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, and RA 11521 which amended the AMLA.

The International Monetary Fund emphasized the need for the Philippines to address the deficiencies mentioned by the FATF to increase foreign direct investment inflow into the country.

Source: Philstar