President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. on Tuesday ordered the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and all concerned government agencies to address the remaining strategic deficiencies that would remove Philippine in the global money laundering ‘grey list’ in 2024.

Marcos made the order during a sectoral meeting in Malacañang, according to AMLC Secretariat executive director Matthew David.

“The President has reiterated the government’s high-level political commitment and directed all government agencies concerned to swiftly address the remaining strategic deficiencies identified by the FATF in relation to the greylisting of the Philippines,” David said.

“The Philippines is aiming to address all these deficiencies within 2024 and to trigger the exit process from this FATF ‘grey listing,’” he added.

Global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed the country under grey list in June 2021.

However, the country failed to meet the January 2023 deadline to address the 18 deficiencies noted by the FATF to exit the grey list.

These remaining action plans include the effective risk-based supervision of Non-Financial Businesses and professionals (NFBPs); mitigating risk associated with casino junkets; enhancing and streamlining access to beneficial ownership information; demonstrating an increase in the money laundering and terrorism financing investigations and prosecutions; and ensuring cross-border measures in all entry points across the country, including seaports and airports.

While the government is on the right track to fulfilling the President’s order, David stressed the need to expedite the removal of the Philippines from the list.

“There are precautions for being on the grey list, because the longer we are on the grey list, the bigger the possibility or the higher the risk that we will enter the black list. Of course, we don’t want to be in the blacklisted jurisdiction. And if we will be on the blacklisted list, there are repercussions to that and one of the repercussions is the effect on our transactions of our OFWs,” David said.

David said the eight deficiencies are “still partly addressed,” with one of them “not yet properly addressed.”

“The most challenging action items regarding terrorism financing prosecution, we need to file more terrorism financing cases and the one in charge of complying with this action item is the law enforcement agencies, including the AMLC,” he said.

David said all concerned agencies have expressed their commitment to address the gaps by implementing measures to strengthen the country’s fight against anti-money laundering and terrorist financing.

“Everybody believes we are on the right track and the President has commended the work of different agencies of government. The President also directed the agencies of government to continue with their actions and to continuously sustain good coordination among themselves — between the law enforcement and other government agencies,” he said.

David said the government’s goal is to address the deficiencies and exit the grey list this 2024.