EDITORIAL - Blacklisted

Surely some of our finance officials expected it. Weeks ago the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force had expressed its misgivings on the law hurriedly passed by Congress last year to fight money laundering. Philippine legislators, protesting that you don’t amend a law so soon after passing it, refused to change the law. So the FATF announced the other day that the Philippines was among 19 countries that would remain on a blacklist of mo—ney laundering havens.

Philippine officials do have a point in insisting that the anti-money laundering law, no matter how hurriedly passed, should be implemented first and tested for deficiencies before amendments are introduced. Amending a piece of legislation just a few months after its passage would set a bad precedent in a land where enforcement of laws is already problematic enough.

The news isn’t all that bad. The FATF did take note of the progress made in fighting money laundering in the 19 "non-cooperative" countries and jurisdictions. Aside from the Phi—lippines, those on the blacklist are the Cook Islands, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Grenada, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Lebanon, the Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Nauru, Nigeria, Niue, Russia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Ukraine. 

But the Philippines must prepare for the consequences of remaining on the blacklist. No matter how much we protest about the criteria for inclusion, we’re still on the list, which means the country’s financial transactions will be slowed down by closer scrutiny abroad. Among those who will feel the effects, apart from the business community, are the millions of overseas Filipino workers.

Since we’re adamant against amending the law at this time, the way to prove the country means business in the fight against money laundering is to show that the law is working. This means catching money launderers, arresting and prosecuting them, and making sure the cases don’t get bogged down in the quagmire of our judicial system. The best way to determine the weaknesses of a law is to implement it. So let’s stop wringing our hands over that FATF blacklist and crack down on the money launderers.