REPUBLIC ACT NO.
10365 NOTES:
AN ACT FURTHER STRENGTHENING
THE ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING LAW,
AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9160, OTHERWISE
KNOWN AS THE "ANTI-MONEY
LAUNDERING ACT OF 2001″, AS
AMENDED
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:
Section 1. Section 3(a) of Republic Act
No. 9160, as amended, is hereby
amended to read as follows:
"(a) ‘Covered persons’, natural or
juridical, refer to:
"(1) banks, non-banks, quasi-banks, trust
entities, foreign exchange dealers,
pawnshops, money changers, remittance
and transfer companies and other similar
entities and all other persons and their
subsidiaries and affiliates supervised or
regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas (BSP);
"(2) insurance companies, pre-need
companies and all other persons
supervised or regulated by the Insurance
Commission (IC);
"(3) (i) securities dealers, brokers,
salesmen, investment houses and other
similar persons managing securities or
rendering services as investment agent,
advisor, or consultant, (ii) mutual funds,
close-end investment companies,
common trust funds, and other similar
persons, and (iii) other entities
administering or otherwise dealing in
currency, commodities or financial
derivatives based thereon, valuable
objects, cash substitutes and other similar
monetary instruments or property
supervised or regulated by the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC);
"(4) jewelry dealers in precious metals,
who, as a business, trade in precious
metals, for transactions in excess of One
million pesos (P1,000,000.00);
"(5) jewelry dealers in precious stones,
who, as a business, trade in precious
stones, for transactions in excess of One
million pesos (P1,000,000.00);
"(6) company service providers which, as
a business, provide any of the following
services to third parties: (i) acting as a
formation agent of juridical persons; (ii)
acting as (or arranging for another person
to act as) a director or corporate secretary
of a company, a partner of a partnership,
or a similar position in relation to other
juridical persons; (iii) providing a
registered office, business address or
accommodation, correspondence or
administrative address for a company, a
partnership or any other legal person or
arrangement; and (iv) acting as (or
arranging for another person to act as) a
nominee shareholder for another person;
and
"(7) persons who provide any of the
following services:
(i) managing of client money,
securities or other assets;
(ii) managementof bank, savings
or
securities accounts;
(iii) organization of contributions for the
creation, operation or management of
companies; and
(iv) creation, operation or management
of juridical persons or arrangements, and
buying and selling business entities.
"Notwithstanding the foregoing, the term
‘covered persons’ shall exclude lawyers
and accountants acting as independent
legal professionals in relation to
information concerning their clients or
where disclosure of information would
compromise client confidences or the
attorney-client relationship: Provided,
That these lawyers and accountants are
authorized to practice in the Philippines
and shall continue to be subject to the
provisions of their respective codes of
conduct and/or professional responsibility
or any of its amendments."
“(b) ‘ covered transaction’ is a transaction
in cash or other equivalent monetary
instrument involving a total amount in
excess of Five hundred thousand pesos
(500,000) within one (1) banking daw.”
“(b-1) ‘Suspicious transactions’ are
transactions with covered
institutions,regardless of the amount
involved, where any of the following
circumstances exist:
1. There is no underlying legal or
trade obligation, purpose or
economic justification;
2. The client is not properly identified;
3. The amount involved is not
commensurate with the business
or financial capacity of the client;
4. Taking into account all know
circumstances, it may be perceived
that the client’s transaction is
structured in order to avoid being
the subject of reporting
requirements under the Act;
5. Any circumstance relating to the
transaction which is observed to
deviate from the profile of the client
and or the client’s past transaction
with the covered institution;
6. The transaction is in any way
related an unlawful activity or
offense under this Act that is about
to be, is being or has been
committed; or
7. Any transaction that is similar or
analogous to any of the foregoing.
(c) "Monetary Instrument" refers to:
(1) coins or currency of legal tender of
the Philippines, or of any other country;
(2) drafts, checks and notes;
(3) securities or negotiable
instruments, bonds, commercial papers,
deposit certificates, trust certificates,
custodial receipts or deposit substitute
instruments, trading orders, transaction
tickets and confirmations of sale or
investments and money marked
instruments; and
(4) other similar instruments where
title thereto passes to another by
endorsement, assignment or delivery.
"(j) Precious metals’ shall mean gold,
silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium,
ruthenium, iridium and osmium. These
include alloys of precious metals, solders
and plating chemicals such as rhodium
and palladium plating solutions and
potassium gold cyanide and potassium
silver cyanide and silver cyanide in salt
solution.
"(k) ‘Precious stones’ shall mean
diamond, ruby, emerald, sapphire, opal,
amethyst, beryl, topaz, and garnet that
are used in jewelry making, including
those formerly classified as semi-precious
stones."
"(i) ‘Unlawful activity’ refers to any act or
omission or series or combination thereof
involving or having direct relation to the
following:
"(1) Kidnapping for ransom under Article
267 of Act No. 3815, otherwise known as
the Revised Penal Code, as amended;
"(2) Sections 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,
14, 15 and 16 of Republic Act No. 9165,
otherwise known as the Comprehensive
Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002;
"(3) Section 3 paragraphs B, C, E, G, H
and I of Republic Act No. 3019, as
amended, otherwise known as the
Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act;
"(4) Plunder under Republic Act No.
7080, as amended;
"(5) Robbery and extortion under Articles
294, 295, 296, 299, 300, 301 and 302 of
the Revised Penal Code, as amended;
"(6) Jueteng and Masiao punished as
illegal gambling under Presidential
Decree No. 1602;
"(7) Piracy on the high seas under the
Revised Penal Code, as amended and
Presidential Decree No. 532;
"(8) Qualified theft under Article 310 of
the Revised Penal Code, as amended;
"(9) Swindling under Article 315 and
Other Forms of Swindling under Article
316 of the Revised Penal Code, as
amended;
"(10) Smuggling under Republic Act Nos.
455 and 1937;
"(11) Violations of Republic Act No. 8792,
otherwise known as the Electronic
Commerce Act of 2000;
"(12) Hijacking and other violations under
Republic Act No. 6235; destructive arson
and murder, as defined under the Revised
Penal Code, as amended;
"(13) Terrorism and conspiracy to commit
terrorism as defined and penalized under
Sections 3 and 4 of Republic Act No.
9372;
"(14) Financing of terrorism under Section
4 and offenses punishable under Sections
5, 6, 7 and 8 of Republic Act No. 10168,
otherwise known as the Terrorism
Financing Prevention and Suppression
Act of 2012:
"(15) Bribery under Articles 210, 211 and
211-A of the Revised Penal Code, as
amended, and Corruption of Public
Officers under Article 212 of the Revised
Penal Code, as amended;
"(16) Frauds and Illegal Exactions and
Transactions under Articles 213, 214, 215
and 216 of the Revised Penal Code, as
amended;
monetary instrument or
property represents,involves, or
relates to the proceeds of any
unlawful activity:
"(a) transacts said monetary instrument or
property;
"(b) converts, transfers,
disposes of, moves, acquires,
possesses or uses said monetary
instrument or property;
"(c) conceals or disguises the true nature,
source, location, disposition, movement
or ownership of or rights with respect to
said monetary instrument or property;
"(d) attempts or conspires to commit
money laundering offenses referred to in
paragraphs (a), (b) or (c);
"(e) aids, abets, assists in or counsels the
commission of the money laundering
offenses referred to in paragraphs (a), (b)
or (c) above; and
"(f) performs or fails to perform any act as
a result of which he facilitates the offense
of money laundering referred
to in paragraphs (a), (b) or (c)
above.
"Money laundering is also committed by
any covered person who, knowing that a
covered or suspicious transaction is
required under this Act to be reported to
the Anti-Money Laundering Council
(AMLC), fails to do so."
SEC. 6. Prosecution of Money
Laundering. –
"(a) Any person may be charged with and
convicted of both the offense of money
laundering and the unlawful activity as
herein defined.
"(b) The prosecution of any offense or
violation under this Act shall proceed
independently of any proceeding relating
to the unlawful activity."
Section9. Prevention of Money
Laundering; Customer Identification
Requirements and Record Keeping. –
(a) Customer Identification, -
Covered institutions shall establish and
record the true identity of its clients based
on official documents. They shall maintain
a system of verifying the true identity of
their clients and, in case of corporate
clients, require a system of verifying their
legal existence and organizational
structure, as well as the authority and
identification of all persons purporting to
act on their behalf.
The provisions of existing laws to the
contrary notwithstanding, anonymous
accounts, accounts under fictitious
names, and all other similar accounts
shall be absolutely prohibited. Peso and
foreign currency non-checking numbered
accounts shall be allowed. The BSP may
conduct annual testing solely limited to
the determination of the existence and
true identity of the owners of such
accounts.
(b) Record Keeping – All records of
all transactions of covered institutions
shall be maintained and safely stored for
five (5) years from the date of
transactions. With respect to closed
accounts, the records on customer
identification, account files and business
correspondence, shall be preserved and
safety stored for at least five (5) years
from the dates when they were closed.
(c) Reporting of Covered
Transactions.
– Covered institutions shall report to the
AMLC all covered transactions within five
(5) working days from occurrence thereof,
unless the Supervising Authority
concerned prescribes a longer period not
exceeding ten (10) working days.
“Lawyers and accountants acting as
independent legal professionals are not
required to report covered and suspicious
transactions if the relevant information
was obtained in circumstances where are
subject to professional secrecy or legal
professional privilege.
“When reporting covered or suspicious
transactions to the AMLC, covered
persons and their officers and employees
are prohibited from communicating,
directly or indirectly, in any manner or by
any mean, to any person or entity, the
media, the fact that a covered or
suspicious transaction has been reported
or is about to be reported thereto. Neither
may such reporting be published or aired
in any manner or form by the mass
media, electronic mail, or other similar
devices. In case of violation thereof. The
concerned officer and employee of the
covered person and media shall be held
criminally liable.”
SAFE HARBOR DOCTRINE:
When reporting covered transactions to
the AMLC, covered institutions and their
officers, employees, representatives,
agents, advisors, consultants or
associates shall not be deemed to have
violated Republic Act No. 1405, as
amended; Republic Act No. 6426, as
amended; Republic Act No. 8791 and
other similar laws, but are prohibited from
communicating, directly or indirectly, in
any manner or by any means, to any
person the fact that a covered transaction
report was made, the contents thereof, or
any other information in relation thereto.
In case of violation thereof, the concerned
officer, employee, representative, agent,
advisor, consultant or associate of the
covered institution, shall be criminally
liable. However, no administrative,
criminal or civil proceedings, shall lie
against any person for having made a
covered transaction report in the regular
performance of his duties and in good
faith, whether or not such reporting
results in any criminal prosecution under
this Act or any other Philippine law.
SEC. 10. Freezing of Monetary
Instrument or Property. – Upon a verified
ex parte petition by the AMLC and after
determination that probable cause exists
that any monetary instrument or property
is in any way related to an unlawful
activity as defined in Section 3(i) hereof,
the Court of Appeals may issue a freeze
order which shall be effective
immediately, and which shall not exceed
six (6) months depending upon the
circumstances of the case: Provided, That
if there is no case filed against a person
whose account has been frozen within the
period determined by the court, the freeze
order shall be deemed ipso facto lifted:
Provided, further, That this new rule shall
not apply to pending cases in the courts.
In any case, the court should act on the
petition to freeze within twenty-four (24)
hours from filing of the petition. If the
application is filed a day before a
nonworking day, the computation of the
twenty-four (24)-hour period shall exclude
the nonworking days.
"A person whose account has been
frozen may file a motion to lift the freeze
order and the court must resolve this
motion before the expiration of the freeze
order.
"No court shall issue a temporary
restraining order or a writ of injunction
against any freeze order, except the
Supreme Court."
Section 2. Section 11 of the same Act is
hereby amended to read as follows:
"SEC. 11. Authority to Inquire into Bank
Deposits. – Notwithstanding the
provisions of Republic Act No. 1405, as
amended; Republic Act No. 6426, as
amended; Republic Act No. 8791; and
other laws, the AMLC may inquire into or
examine any particular deposit or
investment, including related accounts,
with any banking institution or non-bank
financial institution upon order of any
competent court based on an ex parte
application in cases of violations of this
Act, when it has been established that
there is probable cause that the deposits
or investments, including related accounts
involved, are related to an unlawful
activity as defined in Section 3(i) hereof or
a money laundering offense under
Section 4 hereof; except that no court
order shall be required in cases involving
activities defined in Section 3(i)(1), (2),
and (12) hereof, and felonies or offenses
of a nature similar to those mentioned in
Section 3(i)(1), (2), and (12), which are
Punishable under the penal laws of other
countries, and terrorism and conspiracy to
commit terrorism as defined and
penalized under Republic Act No. 9372."
