THE ANTI-MONEY Laundering Council (AMLC) has urged lawmakers to speed up the passage of the amendments for the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) and the Human Security Act (HSA) which are among the “most difficult” for the recommended actions to avoid being re-included in a global dirty money watch list, according to AMLC Executive Director Mel Georgie B. Racela.
“We likewise clarified that we don’t only need to pass the laws, we also have to demonstrate effective implementation, so deadline of October 2020 on the amendments of these laws is not merely for legislation but includes implementation,” Mr. Racela said in a text message on Friday.
The country has been subjected to a 12-month observation period that ends in October to implement the recommendations to improve anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) measures in the Mutual Evaluation Report (MER). After which, the country will then be required to submit a comprehensive progress report to the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG).
Failure to comply to the required reforms could endanger the country to again be a part of the list of high risk and non-cooperative countries in terms of AML and CTF measures.
The AMLC has previously said the revisions to AMLA and HSA should be effective by June 2020 to provide room for implementation before the observation period ends in October.
Mr. Racela said AMLC has sought the support of Senate President Vicente C. Sotto, III and House Peter Alan Peter S. Cayetano to fast-track the passage of the two bills.
The bill to revise HSA, House Bill (HB) 7141, has been pending with the Committee on Public Order and Safety since March 2018. Meanwhile, its counterpart at the Senate, Senate Bill 2204, is on second reading and its period of sponsorship as of Feb. 6.
Meanwhile, amendments to the AMLA under HB 6174 is pending with the Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries as of Feb. 5. In the Senate, no bill on the amendments has been filed.
Mr. Racela added that the “conviction of terrorist financiers” is also among the “most difficult” in the recommended actions by the MER.
“As for amendments to bank secrecy, we were rated largely compliant in this area so this is not included in our priority actions,” Mr. Racela said.
Among the key revisions in the AMLA under the filed bill are the enhancement of investigating measures that could be done by the AMLC through subpoena power, and including tax related to tax evasion and terrorism financing under AMLA. — L.W.T. Noble
