Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has directed multiple government agencies, headed by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), to back the drafting of the new National Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism/Proliferation Financing Strategy (NACS) for 2026-2030.
The directive was published in the Official Gazette last week, with the AMLC called on to provide technical and administrative support, set timelines and monitor compliance of agencies involved in the strategy’s development.
The National Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism/Proliferation Financing Strategy (NACS) for 2026-2030 is central to the Philippines’ efforts to ensure it does not again come onto the radar of global AML watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), having only last year been removed from a grey list of nations under heightened scrutiny.
Marcos has called on Government agencies, including government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCs) – of which gaming regulator PAGCOR is one – and local government units (LGUs) to actively support the AMLC in drafting the latest strategy.
“The heads of concerned government agencies and instrumentalities are hereby directed, and heads of LGUs are hereby encouraged, to ensure that their institutional action plans for the NACS 2026–2030 are aligned with their respective agency resources, subject to existing laws, rules and regulations,” the circular said, as reported by local media.
The Philippines recently completed its Third National Risk Assessment (NRA) covering 2021–2024, which recommended the adoption of risk-based actions given identified threats and vulnerabilities related to money laundering, terrorism, and proliferation financing.
This comes ahead of a planned 2027 assessment of the country’s ongoing progress on addressing previous recommendations by the FATF, which included strengthening oversight of various sectors including casinos. The FATF had specifically mentioned concerns over casino junkets and a lack of action on Suspicious Transaction Reports.
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