Press Release
February 24, 2013

STATEMENT OF SEN. TG GUINGONA ON FATF DECISION
NOT TO BLACKLIST PHL

PHL USHERS SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS TO IMPROVE AMLA

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said that Philippines has made significant progress to improve its anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing measures, and has largely addressed its action plan.

The FATF action is a welcome development for the Philippine government as this administration continues to implement reforms for transparency and accountability in governance.

Moreover, the FATF will conduct an on-site visit to confirm implementation of the reforms which were enacted by Congress to address the deficiencies previously identified by the task force.

With the possibility of delisting from the dark grey list after a favorable result of the on-site visit, millions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) out there who remit earnings to the country will no longer be subjected to enhanced scrutiny. Had we been black-listed again like what happened 12 years ago, our OFWs would have a hard time sending money to loved ones back home. They will be scrutinized and required to submit more supporting documents before their remittances are processed abroad.

Likewise, a successful on-site visit would confirm transparency in governance and would assure foreign investors that their investments would be safe in the Philippines.

Therefore, our first act in the coming 16th Congress will be to introduce a fourth set of amendments to AMLA to include casinos that was taken out from the Senate version at the bicameral conference level.

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