EDITORIAL - Beating a deadline

May 31 was supposed to be the initial deadline. Now the Senate is hoping that by June 6, Congress can pass additional amendments to Republic Act 9160, or the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, to avoid a possible blacklist by the Financial Action Task Force. The amendments seek to expand the predicate crimes covered by RA 9160, to include terrorism-related offenses as well as bribery and malversation of public funds. The Paris-based FATF holds its plenary session in Rome on June 18, during which the Philippines could be blacklisted as a money-laundering haven unless the AMLA amendments have been passed.

Groups believed sympathetic to the Communist Party of the Philippines, which is classified as an international terrorist organization, blocked the inclusion of terrorism-related offenses, including terrorist financing, in the predicate crimes covered by RA 9160. The law was approved on Sept. 29, 2001, just a little over two weeks after the 9/11 terror attacks in New York and Washington, and several months after the Philippines was blacklisted by the FATF as a haven for dirty money.

This time Congress may be prepared to include terrorism-related crimes in the amended AMLA, but there could be contentious debates on the proposed inclusion of bribery as well as giving broader powers to the Anti-Money Laundering Council to look into suspect bank accounts. Senators, who were preoccupied with the impeachment trial of Renato Corona since Jan. 16, have pointed out that the June 8 deadline is too tight. The senators have asked the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to instead inform the FATF about the progress of the pending amendments.

With the 15^th Congress adjourning in a week, the senators will have to try their best to pass the amendments before the FATF plenary session. The Philippines cannot afford to tell the FATF, which wants countries to abide by international rules and standards, to go to a very hot place. In case the country is blacklisted, among those to be hit hard by financial sanctions are overseas Filipino workers and their billions in remittances. Being blacklisted by the FATF will increase the cost of doing business in this country and make financial transactions difficult. The amendments have been certified as urgent and the 15^th Congress must perform its duty.