Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to sign an anti-money laundering bill by tomorrow afternoon, barely hours before the September 30 deadline set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a Paris-based international watchdog.

In an interview with Gulf News in Manila, Senate President Franklin Drilon and opposition Sen. Blas Ople said they "see no major problem" in coming up today with a "reconciled version" of the bill based on the respective versions of both houses of Congress which were approved by 19 lawmakers last night.

Lawmakers said the reconciled version of the bill would no doubt be approved this afternoon. A copy of it will be submitted to the Malacanang (presidential palace) tomorrow morning.

"In the afternoon, President Arroyo is set to sign the bill into law," the senators said.

Arroyo has said she will request the Philippines' Central Bank to trace and freeze all financial assets believed to be owned by terrorists connected with the group of Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden.

"We can begin by looking at the large deposit in Zamboanga, Basilan and Sulu (in southern Philippines)" since the start of the rash of kidnappings perpetrated by the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf, Arroyo said. "I would request our central Bank to do this"

After weeks of deliberations, the last few days of which lasted into the small hours of the morning, members of the House of Representatives agreed to allow "suspicious" bank accounts containing no less than $98,039 (P5 million) to be looked into without the benefit of a court order. Previously, the threshold amount was $19,607 (P1 million).

The House approved overnight its version of the anti-money laundering bill, hoping to beat the deadline set by the FATF.

"We will convince the Senate to adopt some of our provisions," said Rep. Jaime Lopez, chairman of the House committee on banks and financial institutions.

He said the bill drafted by the House was not "retroactive" and would only affect money laundering activities committed after the bill was signed into law.

House minority leader Rep. Carlos Padilla said the Lower House pegged the threshold amount for a transaction to be considered suspicious at five million pesos from the original amount of one million pesos.

"We would have preferred a lower threshold but there were many reservations," Padilla said, adding that there were concerns that the provision could be used for "political harassment".
He added that the House version rejected the creation of an independent anti-money laundering task force. Instead, it approved an "anti-money laundering unit" under the supervision and funding of the Central Bank.

The House yesterday passed the anti-money laundering bill on its third and final reading, doing away with contentious provisions and coming up with a "watered-down" version of the proposal.
Lawmakers deleted items that provided for a P 1 million threshold amount for "covered transactions".

Among the contentious provisions earlier debated by lawmakers were the P 1 million threshold amount for covered transactions, the creation of a task force on money laundering that would go after money launderers and a list of unlawful activities which trigger money laundering.

Congressmen have passed a bill to outlaw money laundering, raising hopes the Philippines would escape sanctions from industrialised nations, officials said yesterday.

"We have authorised the anti-money laundering unit to look into particular deposits, with the concurrence of the Monetary Board upon order of the court, when it is determined that there is probable cause that the deposit is part of proceeds coming from illegal activities," Lopez said.

The House version would authorise regulators to look into bank accounts if there was reasonable ground to suspect the funds were the proceeds of drug trafficking, graft, or kidnapping, he added.

The FATF, an anti-money laundering body set up by the Group of Seven industrialised countries, had given the Philippines until September 30 to outlaw money laundering or face sanctions from its members.

"Barring unforeseen events ... the President may be able to sign the bill at the latest by Saturday," Lopez said.

Also yesterday, Sen. Sergio Osmea said that there are "big loopholes" in the anti-money laundering bill, citing the reduction in the number of "predicate crimes", or the unlawful activities that are to be considered sources of laundered money.

Osmea said he might withdraw his name from the list of the bill's sponsors due to its "watered-down" provisions. "Instead of a tiger we have a pussycat," he said.

The House version of the bill authorised regulators to look into bank accounts if there was reasonable ground to suspect the funds were the proceeds of drug trafficking, graft, or kidnapping.