Photo courtesy of Ping Lacson/Facebook.
The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has poured Php 125 million into artificial intelligence and capacity building after Congress significantly increased its funding for 2026.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor and AMLC chair Eli Remolona Jr. said the investment was being used not only for AI technology but also to develop expertise needed to operate the new tools.
The funding came after AMLC’s 2026 appropriation was raised to Php 333.102 million from the Php 170.161 million originally proposed for the agency under the National Expenditure Program. Official budget figures put the increase at Php 162.941 million.
Senator Panfilo Lacson had pushed for stronger AMLC funding during Senate budget deliberations in 2025, arguing that the agency needed better digital systems and investigative capabilities to track suspicious financial activity. Then Senate finance committee chair Sherwin Gatchalian also backed the restoration of the funding.
At the time, AMLC officials said additional resources were needed for cybersecurity, databases, ICT systems, inter-agency coordination and the prosecution of money laundering and terrorist financing cases. The agency also processes millions of transaction reports as part of its financial intelligence work.
During a briefing on the proposed 2027 national budget Thursday, Lacson asked Remolona whether the additional appropriation had strengthened AMLC’s capabilities. Remolona replied, “Absolutely,” and disclosed that Php 125 million had gone toward AI and related capacity building.
The technology push comes as AMLC faces pressure to improve detection of suspicious transactions following Senate investigations into large cash movements allegedly connected to questionable flood-control projects. AMLC is the Philippines’ financial intelligence unit tasked with implementing the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
The upgrade also follows the Philippines’ exit from the FATF grey list in February 2025. FATF credited the country with improvements that included greater use of financial intelligence and increased money laundering investigations and prosecutions, while urging authorities to sustain those gains.