Congress’ 11th-hour approval of two bills toughening the Anti-Money Laundering Act last June 6, or a day before the legislature adjourned sine die the next day, averted the country being included on the inter-government Financial Action Task Force’s  international blacklist on money laundering and terrorist financing, the Palace claimed yesterday despite the absence of any official announcement from the FATF.
The FATF, an inter-governmental body, has upgraded the Philippines to its “gray list” of countries making sufficient progress in their action plans, President Aquino’s spokesman Abigail Valte said.
“These reforms (prevented) the Philippines from being classified and downgraded to the ‘black list’ which would have resulted in stricter inspections of financial transactions in the country,” she said in a statement.
The Philippines was previously in the FATF’s “dark gray list” of jurisdictions deemed not to be making sufficient progress.
The FATF was not immediately reachable for verification Saturday and its website still listed the Philippines as among the countries not making sufficient progress.
The members of the FATF and representatives from the FATF Style Regional Bodies were, nonetheless, in Rome holding a plenary meeting until yesterday.
The FATF sets standards and promotes effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.  
The decision making body of the FATF is the FATF Plenary, which is supported by a number of working groups.
The meeting in Rome will mainly assess the compliance of countries with its recommendations and evaluating progress made in addressing deficiencies or in the countries’ commitment to an action plan
Following the meeting, the FATF said it will publish the key outcomes of the meeting as well as an update concerning high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions.
The FATF levied a blacklist threat on the Philippines earlier this year, calling for greater state powers to make it easier to scrutinize bank accounts, as well as casinos, foreign exchange traders and other non-bank entities.
The country’s possible inclusion in the FATF blacklist was given prominence during the impeachment trial of ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona in which the opening of his dollar bank accounts became a crucial issue and later on became a key factor for his conviction that removed him as head of the Supreme Court.
The difficulty in acquiring a verified copy of his bank transactions was a major cause of debate in the impeachment trial but later on, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales anyway produced documents which she said came from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and which showed details of Corona’s bank transactions.
A bicameral body subsequently passed two bills on June 6 expanding powers to investigate bank accounts but failed to agree on a third bill to allow greater inspection of non-bank entities.
The AMLC said the FATF had urged Manila to include bribery, public funds misuse, human trafficking, tax evasion and environmental crimes as grounds for a financial investigation.
The FATF is made up of 187 member-countries with the aim of making the international financial system off-limits to criminals.
Citing an Anti-Money Laundering Report supposedly from the FATF, Valte said government efforts “enhancing its transparency and accountability mechanisms in financial transactions,” earned for the Philippines the FATF’s clean bill which she said translated to a positive economic outlook for the country.
AMLC chairman and concurrent Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. wrote Malacanang to report gains brought about by the reforms that the Philippine government has instituted as manifested by the signing of the approved bicameral version of the twin economic bills “An Act To Further Strengthen The Anti-Money Laundering Law” and “The Terrorism Financing Prevention And Suppression Act of 2012.”
Tetangco said the FATF also cited economic gains brought about by the reforms instituted by the government, for which reason the country’s status was upgraded from the “dark gray list” to its “gray list.”  
The dark gray list is composed of countries that have not made sufficient progress in measures to address issues on money laundering. The “gray list” on the other hand shows sufficient progress in addressing deficiencies in line with the FATF’s action plan.
The letter, which details the gains of the AMLC, also stressed the importance of the twin economic bills, which Tetangco claimed to have strengthened the capability of government to identify and prevent financial transactions related to illegal activities and those that undermine global security.
Earlier, the FATF issued warnings that the Philippines’ might land on their blacklist, citing Congressional failure to pass required amendments in the laws governing money laundering. The The FATF was reportedly pushing for an “all or nothing” approach and some quarters feared that passing only two, not three, reforms before the FATF held its annual meeting this week, would put the Philippines in trouble.
Another pending bill insulating reformatory measures expanding the provisions of the law on covered institutions and persons—to include jewelers, insurance agents and pawnshops among others to be covered by the anti-money laundering law—was not passed by Congress for lack of time.
The two reforms that were passed, however, enabled the Philippines to avoid being classified and downgraded to the “black list,” which would have resulted in stricter inspections of financial transactions in the country, delayed remittances, and higher transaction fees.
“Transparency and accountability are among the foremost guiding principles of the Aquino administration. And while we recognize that more needs to be done to strengthen our existing anti-money laundering and anti-financial terrorism measures, we take the satisfaction expressed by the FATF as affirmation of the institutional reforms that we have constantly advocated,” said a Palace statement reacting to Tetangco’s report.
Valte reiterated that transparency and accountability were among the foremost guiding principles of the Aquino administration.
The Financial Action Task Force was established by the G-7 Summit that was held in Paris in 1989 in response to mounting concerns over money laundering. This inter-governmental body sets the standards and promotes effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.