Solon asks for stronger efforts to exit FATF grey list

House of Representatives member Ruwel Peter Gonzaga says that the Philippines needs to be “more careful” about making sure that anti-money laundering (AML) controls in casinos are “strictly enforced.”

Gonzaga said that the Philippines is trying to get off the “grey list” of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which shows the countries that the organization thinks need more tracking because of the risk of financial crime.

In July, Alejandro Tengco, head and CEO of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), the country’s gambling operator, mentioned how important it was for the Philippines to get off the FATF red list, where it was put in June 2021.

In June of this year, the FATF said that the Philippines had “taken steps” to improve its system for fighting money laundering and the financing of terrorism. However, it said that the Philippines still needed to “reduce the risks associated with casino junkets.”

The last time Gonzaga talked about this issue was when he was proposing the budget for the Philippine Department of Justice for 2024 in the House of Representatives.

In January, the head of the Philippine central bank said that the country had been given an extra year, until January 2024, to meet the financial standards needed to get off the FATF danger list.

Original story by: GGRAsia