New EO to boost campaign vs money laundering — AMLC

MANILA, Philippines — The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) said the new executive order issued by Malacañang would boosts the country’s all-out war against money laundering and terrorist financing and is in compliance by the Philippines with international standards.

Mel Georgie Racela, executive director of the AMLC Secretariat, said the issuance of Executive Order No. 68 by President Duterte last Nov. 12, which adopts the National Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Strategy (NACS) and creates a national AML/CFT coordinating committee (NACC), paves the way for more cooperation and commitment among government agencies and the private sector.

“Though these sectors have already been collaborating in the past, the NACS standardizes our country’s approach. Our agencies, offices, and institutions all have different mandates and responsibilities, but the NACS methodically gets us all together toward the common goal of fighting money laundering and terrorism financing,” Racela said.

The NACC would be chaired by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and co-chaired by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and AMLC.

Other members of the committee include the secretaries of foreign affairs, finance, justice, national defense, interior and local government, trade and industry, the chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Insurance Commission, chief executive officer and chairperson of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., administrator of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, and president of the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority.

AMLC has taken the lead in the preparation of the third round of mutual evaluations to be undertaken by the Asia Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering this year to gauge its levels of compliance.

The review system among APG members is about intensifying the world’s fight against ML/TF through cooperation and commitment across borders and across cultures.

Last year, the AMLC led the second National Risk Assessment (NRA) Report, covering the years 2015 and 2016. It evaluated the overall threat and effectiveness of the country’s AML/CFT mechanisms, and the report would be one of the instruments to be assessed during the mutual evaluations process.

The Philippines has come a long way from the second mutual evaluations back in 2009.

In 2013, the country was removed from the gray list of the FATF’s International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG), as most of the deficiencies identified in the second mutual evaluations have been addressed, such as the passage of Republic Act No. 10168 or the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012. In addition, the passage of RA 10365 strengthened the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001 (AMLA), as amended, with additional predicate offenses in accordance with FATF-designated categories of offenses.

A poor rating in the mutual evaluation would put the country back on the ICRG’s “monitored jurisdictions” deeming the Philippines as a high-risk jurisdiction.