Senators confident of AMLA bills' passage

MANILA, Philippines - Senators Franklin Drilon and Teofisto Guingona III are confident that the bills strengthening the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) and suppressing terrorist financing will be passed before the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) holds its plenary session next month.

This as the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has reiterated that failure by Congress to approve the pending bills would lead to the inclusion of the Philippines in the FATF blacklist.

In a letter to Drilon dated May 22, Vicente Aquino, AMLC executive director, attached a letter sent by the Asia/Pacific Group on money laundering (APG) stressing the need to take immediate action to implement its action plan by June or before the FATF holds its plenary session in Rome, Italy.

The attached letter was addressed to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr., chairman of the AMLC.

In that letter, Gordon Hook, executive secretary of APG, noted that the FATF has determined that the Philippines has not yet made sufficient progress to improve its anti-money laundering law and combating the financing of terrorism.

According to Hook, the FATF will discuss progress made by the Philippines at the FATF meeting in Rome from June 18 to 22.

“If the Philippines has not taken sufficient action to implement significant components of its action plan by June (in particular the enactment of the AML amendments and the TF legislation currently before Congress), the FATF will in all likelihood progress the Philippines to the FATF blacklist,” Hook said.

“The effect of the Philippines being blacklisted would be very serious... On behalf of the APG as a whole, we strongly encourage the Philippines to enact the two bills referred to prior to the next meeting on the FATF in late June,” he added.

The APG is an international organization consisting of 41 nations and is closely affiliated with the FATF.

Based on the website of the APG, all APG members commit to effectively implement the FATF’s international standards for anti-money laundering, combating the financing of terrorism and anti-proliferation financing.

The Philippines is currently in the grey list of the FATF and if the organization is not satisfied with the progress of the Philippines in addressing its AML/CFT deficiencies, then it would place the country in its blacklist.

The bills currently being tackled in plenary are Senate Bill 3123, seeking to expand the definition of money laundering and expanding the so-called covered institutions and persons; SB 3127 or the suppression of terrorist financing; and SB 3009, which would allow an ex parte inquiry into accounts of persons and authorizing the AMLC to inquire into the so-called web of accounts.

In a speech yesterday, Guingona said: “The Senate continues to attend to its primary duty of legislation - and that the three Senate Bills would be passed into law soonest. We are aware of the necessity and urgency of doing so.”

Drilon also expressed confidence that the bills would be passed on time, saying this was agreed upon during the senators’ caucus last Monday.