Philippine authorities celebrated the nation’s removing final week from the money-laundering “gray checklist” of the Monetary Motion Process Drive (FATF), however some civil society teams described it as a “Pyrrhic victory” due to the submitting of trumped-up terrorism financing instances towards activists and community-based organizations.
The Philippine authorities has labored onerous to comply with the requirements set by FATF to enhance the native monetary system. Apart from forming an inter-agency job pressure, it teamed up with the personal banking sector to handle the considerations raised by FATF.
Information of the removing of the Philippines from the “gray checklist” was instantly welcomed by authorities officers. The Home Speaker said it could result in the removing of “burdensome restrictions,” discount of transaction prices, and permit monetary flows to maneuver extra effectively. He added that abroad Filipino staff, who make up a tenth of the nation’s inhabitants, stand to learn as a result of their hard-earned remittances will now be processed quicker and with decrease charges.
A senator cited the everlasting banning of the Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) as a superb resolution since this business is infamous for being a hub of legal operations. The finance secretary stated that the improved monetary governance will allow the Philippines to “appeal to extra overseas direct investments and broaden extra commerce partnerships.”
However human rights advocates pointed out that the measures enforced by the Philippine authorities led to the weaponization of the FATF requirements to suppress dissent and undermine the work of individuals’s organizations on the grassroots.
The Nationwide Union of Peoples’ Attorneys (NUPL) flagged the surge in “fabricated” terrorism financing instances, “arbitrary” asset freezes, and cases of monetary exclusion concentrating on civil society leaders and organizations.
As an illustration, there have been solely 14 terrorism financing instances in 2023 however this went as much as 66 in 2024. Financial institution accounts of not less than 17 non-governmental organizations have been frozen. Among the many accused have been teams and their networks engaged in human rights and disaster-preparedness coaching, agrarian reform advocacy, environmental safety, and the supply of humanitarian and improvement support in battle areas. The freezing of accounts resulted within the non-delivery of essential providers and capacity-building actions for poor rural and indigenous communities.
NUPL stated the overbroad measures initiated by the federal government represented “a concession to an unjust world monetary order.” It additionally belittled the Philippines’ exit from the “gray checklist” of the FATF. “This so-called achievement has been constructed on a basis of political repression,” it stated in a press release.
NUPL in contrast the aggressive submitting of instances towards activists and improvement staff with the perceived reluctance to pursue expenses towards the backers of POGOs who’re linked to money-laundering operations involving billions of pesos.
“The state’s eagerness to prosecute trumped-up expenses of financing terrorism whereas ignoring monetary crimes dedicated by politically linked elites exposes the hypocrisy of this so-called victory,” NUPL stated.
Human rights group Karapatan highlighted that the heavy-handed method of authorities “preys on individuals’s organizations important of the misdeeds of presidency and improvement NGOs that present providers for poor communities.” For instance, an investigative media report featured a police order linking the FATF compliance with the submitting of a case towards an activist.
Human Rights Watch urged FATF to have interaction with civil society. “FATF shouldn’t keep silent whereas the federal government is misusing its terrorism financing suggestions to harass civil society teams and activists,” it stated in a press release.
FATF didn’t immediately deal with these considerations however its nation report reminded the Philippine authorities that measures must be “appropriately utilized” and that they need to neither discourage nor disrupt authentic actions of individuals’s organizations.
It stays to be seen whether or not the FATF resolution will truly result in the upgrading of the nation’s monetary standing or if the federal government will rethink the terrorism financing instances it filed towards improvement staff and folks’s organizations. It’s a well timed reminder that requirements imposed by world establishments might have broad penalties, and generally governments can wield these insurance policies to roll out a special agenda with critical ramifications on the individuals’s civil liberties and well-being.
