THE government is now aiming to further improve its anti-money laundering measures after being flagged by a Paris-based watchdog.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recently included the Philippines on its “gray list” of 22 territories for policy deficiencies on money laundering.
On Monday, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said he agrees with the assessment of the FATF, especially since the Community Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army, which the government earlier declared as a terrorist group, is still able to access its funds.
“They still have funds, which must be closed. So, this [gray-listing] is also to the benefit of the republic [with the Financial Action Task Force assessment] and we agree that more efforts have to be exerted to remove funding from that terrorist group,” Roque said.
Roque said the government will try to address this by amending the Anti-Money Laundering and the Counter Terrorism Financing laws.
Also part of the government action plan is the reinforcement of money laundering and terrorism financing investigation and prosecution and campaigns to increase public awareness.
Over the weekend, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) issued a statement asking for the cooperation of concerned government agencies to implement the said action plan.
It warned that failure to address the concerns of the FATF will lead to other countries imposing “countermeasures” against the Philippines.