{"id":777023636,"date":"2025-03-04T10:07:55","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T13:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777023636"},"modified":"2026-04-22T01:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:12:08","slug":"ban-on-offshore-gaming-key-to-philippines-removal-from-fatf-grey-list-government-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/ban-on-offshore-gaming-key-to-philippines-removal-from-fatf-grey-list-government-says","title":{"rendered":"Ban on offshore gaming key to Philippines\u2019 removal from FATF grey list, government says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Philippines was removed from the Financial Action Task Force&#8217;s (FATF) grey list after four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.- Claire Castro, undersecretary of the presidential communications office, has said that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.&#8217;s decision to ban offshore gaming operators has played a role in <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippines-removed-from-fatf-grey-list\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the Philippines<\/a>&#8216; <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippines-removed-from-fatf-grey-list\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">removal<\/a> from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a radio interview, Castro said: &#8220;This is a huge factor for FATF to see the improvement and President Marcos really wants everything to be fixed, through Executive Order 33, to follow the recommendation, and do everything that needs to be done for us to be removed from the grey list.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Executive Order 33 lays out the Philippines&#8217; anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing, and counter-proliferation financing strategy for the period of 2023-2027. The Philippines had been on the grey list since June\u00a02021. In October, the FATF said the country had\u00a0addressed all\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/the-philippines-remains-on-fatf-grey-list-4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">18 deficiencies<\/a> it had identified in anti-money laundering controls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Message of PCO Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Atty. Claire Castro\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LMIeizlFdtc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">20 foreign nationals arrested for alleged links to offshore gaming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has arrested\u00a020 foreign nationals\u00a0allegedly linked to offshore gaming activities in Para\u00f1aque City. Authorities received information from the wife of a Chinese national, who reported illegal activities at Aseana 3, West Tower, 8912 Avenue. She alleged that her husband, who worked as a customer service representative, was being held against his will by his employer, an offshore gaming company operating under the trade name LWE. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those arrested were charged by the city prosecutor&#8217;s office for violating Section 4(b)(1) (Social Engineering Schemes) of Republic Act (RA) 12010 and the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n<div class=\"related-article\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/04\/The-Philippines-government-alerts-about-illegal-POGOs-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\"><span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/paocc-aims-to-eradicate-offshore-gaming-operators-by-year-end\">PAOCC aims to eradicate offshore gaming operators by year-end<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Philippines was removed from the Financial Action Task Force&#8217;s (FATF) grey list after four years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777027994,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Philippines has been removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list after four years, a development partly attributed to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s ban on offshore gaming operators (POGOs) and strengthened anti-money laundering (AML) efforts. This regulatory milestone coincides with recent arrests of foreign nationals linked to alleged illegal offshore gaming activities, reinforcing the nation's commitment to combating illicit financial flows.","focusai_entities":"Financial Action Task Force, FATF, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Claire Castro, National Bureau of Investigation, NBI, LWE, PAOCC","focusai_location":"Philippines, Para\u00f1aque City","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.85), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on FDI","query":"How will the Philippines' removal from the FATF grey list specifically influence foreign direct investment flows into its regulated gaming and financial services sectors?"},{"label":"POGO Transition Strategy","query":"What are the comprehensive economic and social implications of the POGO ban, and what transition support mechanisms are being implemented for displaced workers and affected businesses?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,16333],"tags":[4138],"class_list":["post-777023636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-online-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777023636"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777023659,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023636\/revisions\/777023659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777027994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777023636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777023636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777023636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}