AUTHORITIES are working to prevent the country’s return to the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) gray list amid the risks to the Philippine standing brought by the flood control corruption controversy, a ranking central bank official said.
“To be honest, we have a risk. We have a risk na babalik tayo sa (that we will return to the) gray list, although we’re doing what we can to prevent that,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Gov. Eli Remolona Jr. said Monday during an information session with journalists Dumaguete City.
The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), chaired by the BSP governor, has secured from the Court of Appeals (CA) freeze orders for over 4,600 bank accounts and nearly 300 insurance policies, aside from electronic wallets and securities accounts, linked to individuals and private entities suspected to have participated in anomalous government flood control projects.
The amount of frozen assets have reached around P13 billion, authorities said, and the figures are expected to rise further as the government continues to probe the anomaly and run after those involved.
Remolona said preventing the country’s re-inclusion in the gray list “is going to be a long-process,” noting that the next process of evaluation is around 2027.
“We have to do what we need to do to show FATF that we’re doing everything we can,” he said.
Inclusion in the gray list means a country has weak measures against money laundering and terrorist financing.
The last time the country was removed from the list is in May 2025, after it was again placed in the list in July 2021 due to several factors that included money laundering through casino junkets and lack of prosecution of suspects involved in funding terrorist activities. / PNA