The Anti-Money Laundering Council on Monday requested that the Senate restore its P162 million budget for 2026 to strengthen its mandate of combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
The central bank-led AMLC has proposed a 2026 budget of P333.1 million not only to strengthen its anti-money laundering/countering terrorism and proliferation financing (AML/CTPF) supervision, but also to curb corruption in the country.
However, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) only set aside P170.16 million for AMLC under next year’s national expenditure program.
During Monday’s Senate hearing on finance, AMLC Executive Director Matthew David has appealed to both the Senate and DBM to restore the P162 million to their allotted budget.
AMLC, as the Philippines’ financial intelligence unit (FIU), is chaired by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Eli Remolona Jr.
The bulk of the agency’s proposed budget will finance its cybersecurity systems by enhancing and updating its databases. A portion will also fund efforts to apprehend and prosecute financial criminals.
David said they need more budget to protect, process, and assess the financial data they accumulate as an FIU.
AMLC processes suspicious transaction reports (STRs) and covered transaction reports (CTRs).
As of August this year, the agency has gathered 24.6 million STRs and 42.28 million CTRs.
“These reports are the backbone of our intelligence work,” David said.
The AMLC prefers not to conduct manual analysis of these reports anymore due to the technology employed by financial criminals, which they need to match in terms of supervision and monitoring.
