MORE than P1 billion in assets were frozen by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) in a span of 18 months, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said.
Diokno, who has also been sitting as AMLC chairman for about seven months since he has taken the Central Bank helm, reported that AMLC’s recent “investigation efforts” resulted in “tangible numbers.”
Aside from the assets frozen, Diokno said the AMLC also worked toward the forfeiture of assets with an estimated value of P600 million.
Investigation efforts also helped in the development of 11 money laundering complaints, two terrorism-financing complaints, 23 applications for bank inquiry for money laundering and three applications for bank inquiry for terrorism financing, Diokno said.
Standards assessment
DIOKNO also bared that the Philippines is in the latter stage of a mutual evaluation (ME), which gauges the country’s levels of technical compliance with international anti-money laundering/counter-terrorism financing standards, as well as effectiveness of the country’s existing AML/CTF system.
According to the governor, prior to the ME Report, the AMLC conducted a self-assessment based on the existing legal framework, operations of competent authorities, and statistics to forecast the evaluation results.
On effectiveness, the assessment reflected accurate ratings for 7 out of the 11 Immediate Outcomes, while on technical compliance, the assessment reflected accurate ratings for 34 out of the 40 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations.
“Following the adoption of the ME Report, the Philippines has entered a 12-month observation period, the completion of which requires the country to submit a comprehensive progress report to the APG [Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering] focused on the implementation of its recommended actions,” Diokno said.
“This 12-month observation period gives us an opportunity for the country to remedy identified shortcomings in the ME Report.”
Diokno also urged the AMLC officials and employees to “work even harder” to ensure that the Philippines is able to successfully exit the 12-month observation period.
“We cannot afford to have the Philippines in the FATF’s list of high risk and noncooperative jurisdictions. Hence, we should be very strategic in our focus for the next 12 months,” Diokno said.
“With perseverance, a reinforced Secretariat and a closer link with partner agencies, I am confident that we will be able to address the country’s weak AML/CFT areas,” he added.