Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 11521)
The State's policy is to protect and preserve the integrity and confidentiality of bank accounts and to ensure that the Philippines is not used as a money laundering site for proceeds of unlawful activity, while cooperating in transnational investigations and targeted financial sanctions related to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and financing of terrorism as per UN Security Council resolutions.
Covered persons include various natural or juridical persons involved in financial transactions, specifically including real estate developers and brokers, and offshore gaming operations and their service providers supervised or regulated by PAGCOR or a government agency.
A covered transaction is a cash or other monetary instrument transaction exceeding 500,000 pesos within one banking day. For casino cash transactions involving covered persons, it is transactions over 5 million pesos, and for real estate developers and brokers, transactions over 7.5 million pesos or equivalent in any currency.
Suspicious transactions are any transactions with covered persons, regardless of amount, exhibiting red flags such as lack of legal justification, improper client identification, uncommensurate amounts with client’s capacity, structuring to avoid reporting, deviations from client profile, relation to unlawful activities, or other similar suspicious circumstances.
Unlawful activities include fraudulent practices under the Securities Regulation Code, violations related to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and its financing, tax crimes with significant deficiencies, and felonies punishable under foreign penal laws.
The AMLC is composed of the Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as Chairman, the Commissioner of the Insurance Commission, and the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. It acts unanimously to investigate suspicious and covered transactions related to money laundering and to enforce related legal powers including freezing assets and issuing subpoenas.
The AMLC may file verified ex parte petitions for freeze orders from the Court of Appeals if probable cause exists that the assets are linked to unlawful activities. Freeze orders are effective immediately for 20 days and may be extended up to six months, with provisions for summary hearings, lifting motions, and limitations on the freeze amount to probable proceeds only.
The AMLC and its Secretariat must protect and not disclose any information obtained through their office, even after they leave their position. They are tasked with creating rules for secure exchange, handling, storage, and access to information.
Persons found guilty face imprisonment from 3 to 8 years and a fine between 500,000 to 1,000,000 pesos. If a public official commits the breach, they also face permanent or temporary disqualification from public office. Media personnel publishing breaches are also liable under the Act.