This report examines the incalculable damage on civic space and fundamental freedoms caused by the Philippine government’s high-level political commitments to exit the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring” or “Grey List.” Pursuant to FATF recommendations on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), Philippine Congress enacted Republic Act No. 10168 (Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act) in 2012 and Republic Act No. 11479 (Anti-Terrorism Act) in 2020.
Previously, the lack of administrative designation and freezing of assets ex parte in
these anti-terrorism laws were marked as “strategic deficiencies” during past Mutual Evaluation Reviews (MER) of the Philippines by the Asia Pacific Group (APG). However, the marginalization of civil society in the enactment of these laws was an instance of “policy laundering” or the embedding of standards drafted by the U.S. government and later adopted by the G7/8, United Nations (UN), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) into the Philippine legal regime. The domestic CTF regime thereafter became a potent weapon to suppress dissent and stifle civic space.
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