Palace: PHL evades FATF's black list

The Philippines managed to avoid falling into the black list of the Financial Action Task Force, despite failing to pass on time key amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act. But Malacañang stressed the Philippines’ stay in the FATF’s "gray list" for now came with a “reminder” to pass the amended AMLA soonest. “We were informed (that) because of the efforts of the Anti-Money Laundering Council, the FATF was made aware of efforts to pass the piece of legislation required for us to avoid being downgraded. And the FATF recognized these efforts and has instead kept us in the gray list,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said on government-run dzRB radio. However, she added the FATF also “urged us also to adopt the third measure for us to be compliant with international standards.” She said the third amendment has something to do with increasing the number of predicate crimes for money laundering, “to ensure (Philippine) systems are on par with international standards.” The FATF was to meet Friday to decide whether the Philippines would remain in the gray list or be downgraded to the black list due to the failure to pass the amendments into law on time. While the FATF gave the Philippines until Oct. 19 to pass the amendment, both houses of Congress had gone on recess and will resume session Nov. 5. The Senate is still tackling the proposed amendments to the AMLA, including expanding the definition of money laundering, and encompassing predicate crimes such as bribery, malversation of public funds, human trafficking, tax evasion and crimes against the environment. Last June, the FATF upgraded the Philippines from the dark gray to the gray list, after Congress passed two of three laws the FATF had sought. These included one waiving the requirement for the Anti-Money Laundering Council to inform suspected money launderers that their bank deposits are being monitored; and another that criminalized giving money to known terrorists. A third amendment the FATF wants is increasing the number of predicate crimes that would prompt the monitoring of suspicious bank accounts. Gray list Being on the gray list means a country is considered "making sufficient progress" in fighting money laundering. On the other hand, including the Philippines on the black list may mean transactions with Filipino individuals and companies might be scrutinized more strictly, on suspicion these could involve laundered money. Such scrutiny is seen to affect remittances of overseas Filipino workers. Sen. Sergio Osmeña III warned this may even mean delayed remittances due to the scrutiny. But Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile last Thursday said the FATF cannot dictate on member countries that gave it the power to regulate anti-money laundering activities. — LBG, GMA News