THE Senate is on track to frontload passage of remedial legislation providing for a stronger Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla) to beef up the financial sector’s defense amid the Corona Virus (Covid) contagion.
This, as Sen. Grace Poe on Wednesday assured that the Senate Committee on Banks and Financial Institutions will “act with dispatch on the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act while ensuring thorough and transparent deliberation.”
Poe, who chairs the committee, gave the assurance soon after Malacañang certified the urgency of passing the bill reinforcing Amla, allowing its approval on second and third reading in one sitting.
“It is imperative to have the means in law to better combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the financial system,” said Poe.
She is confident that “a healthy financial system will have the capacity to absorb the impact of events such as the Covid-19 pandemic that heavily disrupted economic activities and displaced thousands of workers from their source of living.”
In a statement, Poe added that deliberations on pending bills to amend Amla will proceed with urgency, “but without foregoing meticulousness and transparency to guarantee that the new version of the law will balance the interests of all concerned sectors.”
Poe had earlier filed Senate Bill 1412 seeking to further strengthen the Amla embodied in Republic Act 9160.
Among others, the remedial legislation provides for: inclusion of real-estate developers and brokers
as covered persons; inclusion of tax crimes and violation of the Strategic Trade Management Act which indirectly includes proliferation of weapons of mass destruction as predicate offenses to money laundering; enhancement of the investigative powers of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC); authorization of the AMLC to implement “targeted financial sanctions” on proliferation financing; prohibition on the issuance of injunctive relief against freeze orders and forfeiture proceedings; and, authorization of the AMLC to preserve, manage or dispose of assets subject of asset preservation order and judgment forfeiture.
Moreover, it recalled that the AMLC had earlier warned that if the Philippines fails to pass the amendments and demonstrate effective implementation, the country will be at risk of being “greylisted.”
In the senator’s billl, “greylisting” of the Philippines would mean that: (a) the European Union will impose “enhanced due diligence” (EDD) on Filipino nationals and businesses; (b) EDD will entail additional cost and paperwork; (c) there will be higher interest rates/processing fees; (d) there will be higher cost of remittance for OFWs; (e) the Philippines will incur a “reputational risk” that would result in reduced investor and lender confidence; (f) there could be a decline in the GDP growth of the Philippines; and (g) there would be a setback in the Philippines’s efforts to achieve an “A” credit rating before 2022; among others.
Such consequences of being “greylisted” by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Poe added, “would surely have a negative impact not just on our OFWs, Filipino nationals and businesses abroad, but also on our country’s economy.”
Poe pointed out that “we need to up our defenses against the evolving threats of financial crimes,” stressing that “a stronger Amla will help ensure that perpetrators shall have nowhere to hide.”