The Insurance Commission (IC) on Thursday lauded the President’s insistence to include casinos as covered entities under Republic Act 10927, or the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla), which should further strengthen the monitoring and combating of tainted financial transactions.
Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa, himself a member of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (Amlc), welcomed the signing into law the amendment putting casinos under the ambit of the Amla.
Earlier in the month, President Duterte signed the amended legislation that now includes casinos and Internet- and ship-based gaming sites with casino-cash transactions related to their gaming operations.
“The expansion of the coverage of the law to include casinos as covered persons further strengthens the law in monitoring and combating money laundering and terrorist financing,” Funa said.
Under the Amla amendment, a single cash transaction involving amounts in excess of P5 million or its equivalent in any other currency is now considered a covered transaction that must be reported by casinos to the Amlc.
The implementing rules and regulations will be jointly promulgated by the Amlc, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.(Pagcor) and other government regulatory agencies.
“The passage of the law for the inclusion of casinos in the Amla coverage addresses one of our deficiencies in the standards provided under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations. This eliminates the possibility that the Philippines will be blacklisted by the Asia-Pacific group on money laundering,” he added.
The FATF is an inter- governmental body mandated to set standards promoting the effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing or proliferation of threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
At present, there are 40 so-called FATF recommendations for implementation to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as the financing or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
FATF recommendation No. 23 requires designated nonfinancial businesses and professions to implement programs against money laundering and terrorist-financing, and apply enhanced due diligence measures to business relationships and transactions with natural and legal persons, as well as financial institutions and report suspicious transactions, among others.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. also welcomed the development, saying the law is very important in the battle against dirty money.
According to Espenilla, the Amlc Secretariat is already ramping up manpower in line with the expanded scope of the Amla.
The inclusion of casino operators under the coverage of RA 10927 is among the 17 priority measures of Duterte.
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