THE Philippines will likely exit the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list or the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring soon, an official of the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.
“We are very confident that when the FATF grey list matter is taken up this October, it is very possible that the Philippines will already exit the grey list because of our performance in various areas, including the intellectual property rights protection,” DOJ Undersecretary Jesse Hermogenes Andres said in a briefing on the sidelines of the 2024 National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights High-Level Meeting held at the Admiral Hotel Manila on Tuesday, September 24.
The FATF is a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog.
“We have been in the grey list for several years now, almost five years, and there were 18 committed outcomes that were expected of the Philippines for us to exit the grey list,” Andres said.
He added: “We have completed 15 already, so only three remaining items. And we completed the report only a month ago. And we are expecting the FATF to make a decision this coming October.”
Andres is confident that the Philippines has already delivered on the three remaining items.
The FATF earlier recognized that the Philippines has made significant progress in enhancing its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regime.
It, however, noted that the Philippines should continue to work on implementing its action plan to address its three strategic deficiencies.
These are demonstrating that supervisors are using AML/CFT controls to mitigate risks associated with casino junkets; applying cross-border measures to all main sea/airports including detection of false declarations of currency and confiscation action in line with risk; and demonstrating an increase in the prosecution of terrorism funding cases in line with risk. (PNA)
