The Philippines is seen exiting the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2025 after it has delivered on the three remaining committed outcomes.

Undersecretary Jesse Hermogenes Andres of the Department of Justice (DOJ) said the Philippines has completed last month its report on cross-border measures, casino junkets and terrorism financing, the last of the 18 committed outcomes that would delist the Philippines from FATF.

“We are very confident that we have delivered on the three. We are very confident when the FATF is taken up next month), it is very possible the Philippines may exit the grey list,” said Andres in a press conference on the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR) leaders meeting in Manila.

The work of the NCIPR to combat counterfeiting and piracy has boosted efforts of the National Anti-Money Laundering Council to delist the Philippines from the FATF grey list, a success which may be finally achieved in 2025, the NCIPR said.

The FATF is a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog.

The Philippines has been in the grey list for five years. The grey list is a list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring.

Countries in the list are tasked to address items in its International Co-operation Review Group action plan.

The Philippines had made some progress in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regime since June 2021, when it made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF to address these issues.

These include an increase in ML investigations and prosecutions in line with risk; enforcement of beneficial ownership transparency obligations and law enforcement access to those beneficial ownership data records among others.

The DOJ has been part of initiatives to help the country exit the FATF grey list under the National Anti-Money Laundering Coordinating Committee tasked to combat money laundering, in areas intersecting with intellectual property violations.

“The Philippines’ inclusion in the FATF grey list underscores the urgent need to enhance our capacity to address money laundering within the realm of intellectual property violations,” Andres said in his speech.

Nathaniel Arevalo, deputy director-general echoed the positive outlook of the DOJ while noting that counterfeiting and piracy have been linked to financing activities of organized crime groups.

“Trade in illegal goods is a transnational crime often run by complex criminal networks. Failing to deter illicit goods such as IP infringing goods from the market further emboldens these criminal groups to expand their operations and harm more people and brands,” Arevalo said. 

“IPOPHL is committed to strengthen efforts at the NCIPR, intensify our cooperation internally and with external members and improve the country’s reputation in the FATF and in the global context as an enabler of creativity, innovation and legitimate businesses,” Arevalo added.