The European Commission has removed the Philippines from its list of jurisdictions with a “high risk” of money laundering and terrorism financing, taking into account the work of the Financial Action Task Force, the Paris-based multinational watchdog that removed the country from its grey list last February.
The Philippines joins Barbados, Gibraltar, Jamaica, Panama, Senegal, Uganda, and the United Arab Emirates in leaving the list, while added were Algeria, Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Monaco, Namibia, Nepal, and Venezuela.
The EC said the decision was based on incorporated information collected through the FATF, bilateral dialogues, and on site visits to the jurisdictions in question.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Eli Remolona Jr., who also chairs the Anti-Money Laundering Council, said that while the latest action was “certainly good news,” the EU Parliament will still need to confirm the EC decision.
The Philippines has been, in one form or another, on the FATF’s grey list of “jurisdictions under increased monitoring” or black list of “non-cooperative” nations since the task force’s first report in 2000. It was blacklisted in 2002 after Congress failed to amend Republic Act No. 1405, or the Philippine Bank Secrecy Law of 1955.
Faced with stringent reportorial requirements and increased costs for remittances, the Philippines agreed over several years to improve measures against money laundering and terror financing, finally earning removal from the black list in 2005.
However, deficiencies in regulations against money laundering and terrorism financing, along with supposed involvement in the 2016 cyberheist of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank and the laundering in Philippine casinos, triggered the return to the grey list.
The fruits of our labor when it comes to the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing are slowly ripening, and hopefully, the harvest will be plentiful for Filipinos. Exiting the FATF grey list, and now the EC’s list, if sustained, will make it easier to transact with the global financial markets, which benefits everyone, not just the overseas Filipino workers who have had to deal with increased transaction costs when the country was still in those lists. Let us hope that our government can continue to work to keep us out of that list, and maybe even take the lead in the effort against such financial crimes.*
