' Statement of the President on the:
Anti-money laundering law '
I take pride in the team spirit of the Government and the private sector in upholding the strict standards of our anti-money laundering law and getting us off the list of non-cooperative countries of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

My congratulations go to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) spearheaded by the Bangko Sentral, Congress, the Supreme Court, the Ombudsman, the Department of Justice, the Solicitor General for playing an active and leading role in this effort.

Once more, we are seeing our democratic institutions at work for a rightful cause, marking an important milestone for the whole nation in the fight against corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing.

Our graduation from the FATF list is a vote of confidence from the international community of our efforts to clean up the mess of the past, enforce good governance, and support global security.

We shall continue the fight against corrupt practices through the stricter enforcement of the law, heightened mass education in moral values, and tools provided by new forms of technology.

The FATF’s vote of confidence will continue to attract long-term and large investments that will further underpin the stability of the Philippine Peso, and its eventual role in the creation of more jobs and in building the infrastructure.
I am hopeful that this event will continue to encourage all branches of Government to work together toward transforming our nation into one that truly reflects its potential for high growth, market leadership, and human resource ingenuity.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development and promotion of policies, both at national and international levels, to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The Task Force is therefore a “policy-making body” which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.

The FATF monitors members’ progress in implementing necessary measures, reviews money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and counter-measures, and promotes the adoption and implementation of appropriate measures globally. In performing these activities, the FATF collaborates with other international bodies involved in combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

The FATF does not have a tightly defined constitution or an unlimited life span. The Task Force reviews its mission every five years. The FATF has been in existence since 1989, and it has been agreed that its current mandate extends through the end of 2004. It will only continue to exist and to perform its function after this date provided the member governments agree that this is necessary.

Brief History of the FATF
In response to mounting concern over money laundering, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) was established by the G-7 Summit that was held in Paris in 1989. Recognizing the threat posed to the banking system and to financial institutions, the G-7 Heads of State or Government and President of the European Commission convened the Task Force from the G-7 member States, the European Commission, and eight other countries.

The Task Force was given the responsibility of examining money laundering techniques and trends, reviewing the action, which had already been taken at a national or international level, and setting out the measures that still needed to be taken to combat money laundering. In April 1990, less than one year after its creation, the FATF issued a report containing a set of Forty Recommendations, which provide a comprehensive plan of action needed to fight against money laundering.

During 1991 and 1992, the FATF expanded its membership from the original 16 to 28 members. Since then, FATF has continued to examine the methods used to launder criminal proceeds and has completed two rounds of mutual evaluations of its member countries and jurisdictions. It has also updated the Forty Recommendations to reflect the changes which have occurred in money laundering and has sought to encourage other countries around the world to adopt anti-money laundering measures.

In 2001, the development of standards in the fight against terrorist financing was added to the mission of the FATF.

FATF members
The following list shows the countries, territories, and organizations that make up the membership of the FATF:

(1) Argentina; (2) Australia; (3) Austria; (4) Belgium; (5) Brazil; (6) Canada; (7) Denmark; (8) European Commission; (9) Finland; (10) France; (11) Germany; (12) Greece; (13) Gulf Co-operation Council; (14) Hong Kong, China; (15) Iceland; (16) Ireland; (17) Italy; (18) Japan; (19) Luxembourg; (20) Mexico; (21 )Kingdom of the Netherlands; (22) New Zealand; (23) Norway; (24) Portugal; (25) Russian Federation; (26) Singapore; (27) South Africa; (28) Spain; (29) Sweden; (30) Switzerland; (31) Turkey; (32) United Kingdom; (33) United States. (The Office of the President-News Page 2/11/2005)