SENATE President Francis “Chiz” G. Escudero said today the commitment of the Marcos administration to go after dirty money paved the way for the Philippines to be taken off the gray list of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force.
The FATF’s decision to finally remove the Philippines from its watchlist was the result of decades long, non-stop efforts of local officials to regain global trust, do away with cumbersome money transactions for Filipino workers overseas and make the economy more appealing as a safe investment destination.
“Being removed from the gray list of the FATF is the culmination of all the efforts of the Philippine government. This sends a strong message to the international community that we are a country that abides by laws and takes the matter of going after financing of criminal elements seriously,” Escudero said.
Escudero has been closely monitoring the efforts of the country to be removed from the watchlist of the FATF.
When he was chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies in 2017, Escudero worked on the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act after the country was almost blacklisted by the FATF.
It was during this time that casinos were included in the coverage of the Anti-Money Laundering Act as recommended by the FATF.
“Since then, we have continuously worked with the FATF to address the remaining obstacles to our removal from its watchlist. We thank President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for making this one of his administration’s priorities, as well as all the National AML/CFT Coordinating Committee led by Executive Lucas Bersamin for seeing this through to the end,” Escudero said.
Looking back, the Senate President explained, the inclusion in the FATF’s watchlist made it more difficult for the country to obtain credit and discouraged foreign banks from transacting with their Philippine counterparts. This also meant that the cost of sending money to the Philippines, particularly by OFWs, increased and led to the utilization of non-official channels.
“It is the reputation of the Philippines in the international community that is at stake here. Now that we have hurdled this long-standing obstacle, we expect to see even more investment inflows into the country, as well as easier and less expensive transactions for our OFWs wherever they are situated,” Escudero said.
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