Women, Business, and the Law report finds PHL improvements

The Philippines improved in two of the three pillars in the World Bank’s Women, Business, and the Law (WBL) 2026 report, with scores surpassing the global and East Asia and Pacific averages.

The report, released on Tuesday, measures how laws, policies, and practices shape women’s economic opportunities. It studied 190 economies’ performance in three indices: legal frameworks, supportive frameworks, and enforcement perceptions.

In the 2025 report, the Philippines scored 72.53 in legal frameworks, 77.43 in supportive frameworks, and 53.97 in enforcement perceptions.

Compared to 2024, the Philippines scored higher in both legal frameworks and supportive frameworks, from 70 and 54.2 points, respectively. Its score fell in enforcement perceptions from 58.8 two years ago.

“In the Philippines, the legal frameworks score is 73, the supportive frameworks score is 77, and the enforcement perceptions score is 54, showing that gaps still persist between law and practice,” the World Bank said.

Nevertheless, the Philippines’ performance outperformed global and the East Asia and Pacific averages across all pillars and topics, except for mobility, marriage, and childcare.

The report covered 10 topics — safety, mobility, work, pay, marriage, parenthood, childcare, entrepreneurship, assets, and pension.

“On paper, most countries are doing reasonably well: the average country scores 67 out of 100 on the adequacy of laws to enable economic equality between women and men,” said Indermit Gill, World Bank chief economist and senior vice-president for development economics.

“But when it comes to enforcing the laws, the average score drops to 53. And when the systems needed to implement those rights are assessed, the adequacy score is just 47,” he added.

He said lower averages in law enforcement and implementation “reflect huge opportunity gaps.”

On the WBL 1.0 index, the Philippines scored 81.9 in 2026, higher than 78.8 in 2024. It measures 35 data points across 8 indicators.

This score is middle-of-the-road in Southeast Asia, exceeded by Vietnam (88.1), Timor Leste (86.3), Cambodia (84.4), Singapore (82.5), and Laos (82.5) but better than Thailand (78.1), Indonesia (70.6), Myanmar (61.9), Malaysia (60.06), and Brunei (53.1).

The report also found that the Philippines was the only economy to have enacted reform toward legal gender equality on the topic of mobility, via the Philippine Passport Act.

“The Philippine Passport Act allows married women to choose whether to adopt their husband’s surname, removing the blanket requirement for all married women to present a marriage certificate,” the World Bank said.

In total, the report tallied 68 economies that have implemented reforms toward legal gender equality from 2023 to 2025.

“Over the past two years, 68 economies enacted 113 positive legal reforms across most areas of women’s economic life, with the greatest progress in entrepreneurship and safety from violence,” the World Bank said.

“Seven countries also expanded paternity leave to help redistribute caregiving and support women’s employment,” it added.

Women, Business, and the Law assesses the global state of women’s economic participation across 10 key areas, including safety from violence, access to childcare, entrepreneurship, employment protections, asset ownership, and retirement security.

Norman Loayza, director of the World Bank Policy Indicators Group, said the report identifies safety from violence as a key shortcoming, as it makes women less able to work consistently.

“True equality begins with safety. Whether at home, at work, or in public, women deserve protection to thrive,” he said.

“Globally, we’re falling short. We have only a third of the safety laws we need, and even then, enforcement is failing 80% of the time,” he added

Women, Business and the Law 2026.pdf

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Source: Business World

Philippines still under heightened threat of money laundering

The Philippines remains under heightened threat of money laundering due to the prevalence of crimes such as drug trafficking, financial fraud and tax evasion, a study by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) showed.

In its latest National Risk Assessment (NRA), the financial intelligence unit noted that abuse of digital platforms, cryptocurrency transfers, junket operators, and cross-border schemes via offshore platforms and remittance networks have quickly evolved in the country.

“The Philippines continues to face high (money laundering) threat, driven primarily by the scale and profitability of several predicate crimes, including illegal drug trafficking; fraud, swindling, and cyber-enabled scams; environmental crimes; tax evasion; and corruption and securities-related violations,” the AMLC said in a statement on Monday.

Meanwhile, the country has “medium” vulnerability to money laundering risks, “reflecting improved institutional capacity, stronger regulatory frameworks, expanded supervision, and more effective domestic coordination.”

The country had the same ratings in the previous NRA issued for 2015 to 2016.

The NRA provides insights on the threats from criminals and their illegal operations, as well as the vulnerabilities of the financial system. It also outlines strategies for government and private institutions to enhance prevention and detection of such activities.

“The NRA serves as an evidence-based foundation for shaping national policy and strengthening our country’s defense against the threat posed by evolving financial crime,” said Matthew M. David, AMLC executive director and secretariat head of the National Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorism Financing/Counter-Proliferation Financing Coordinating Committee (NACC).

“It reaffirms the government’s commitment to transparency, integrity, and national security.”

The Council first released an NRA in 2016, which assessed risks from 2011 to 2014.

The AMLC said its third NRA, which covers data from 2021 to 2024, is its most comprehensive assessment yet on money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation financing. It is the first NRA to include proliferation financing risks.

The full report has yet to be published.

By sector, casinos, real estate developers and brokers, money service businesses, virtual asset service providers have medium to high vulnerability to money laundering.

Under medium vulnerability are the banking sector, securities sector, trust entities, pawnshops, dealers in precious metals and stones, as well as lawyers and accountants.

The insurance sector and national savings and loan associations, on the other hand, have medium-low to low vulnerability.

“These ratings reflect risk profiles associated with cash intensity, exposure to high-value transactions, digital adoption, and the strength of supervisory oversight,” the AMLC said.

TERRORISM RISKS

Meanwhile, the AMLC also reported that the Philippines faces “medium” risks from terrorism financing, a downgrade from its “high threat” evaluation in the previous NRA.

“This assessment reflects the cumulative impact of sustained security operations,

enhanced intelligence coordination, strengthened oversight of nonprofit organizations, and improvements in financial sector controls and reporting mechanisms,” the AMLC said.

However, terrorism financing risks persist in Mindanao’s conflict zones, cross-border transfers to extremist networks and potential abuse of nonprofit organizations.

The AMLC also identified “medium” risk from proliferation financing (PF), citing limited awareness and readiness among public and private entities, weak enforcement of targeted financial sanctions, and operational coordination gaps.

“The Philippines’ first dedicated PF assessment concludes that while PF threat is low, institutional and sectoral vulnerabilities are high, resulting in an overall medium PF risk profile,” it said.

Still, the AMLC noted substantial progress in the country’s proliferation financing, including the activation of the NACC proliferation financing sub-committee, stronger regulatory issuances, and improved supervisory awareness among financial institutions.

In February, the Philippines exited the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “gray list” or the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring for money laundering.

The FATF is set to reassess the country in 2027, where it will verify whether the country’s anti-money laundering measures are being sustained and still in place.

The Philippines was also delisted from the United Kingdom and the European Commission’s lists of third countries with high risk of money laundering and terrorism financing in March and June, respectively.

John Paolo R. Rivera, a senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, said the report reflects the country’s progress on its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) initiatives, but still shows gaps in enforcement and risk management.

“For the FATF, (the) EU (and the) UK, the report reinforces the need for (the Philippines) to sustain reforms after its recent delistings,” he said in a Viber message. “While it does not automatically mean a return to watchlists, any weakening in enforcement, prosecutions, or supervision could raise red flags and invite renewed scrutiny.”

Meanwhile, Jonathan L. Ravelas, a senior adviser at Reyes Tacandong & Co., said via Viber that the AMLC’s findings serve as a “wake-up call.”

“It shows we’ve made progress, but high threats and medium vulnerabilities mean we’re still exposed,” he said. “If we don’t act fast, global bodies like FATF, the EU, and the UK could put us back under scrutiny.”

Mr. Rivera said the National Government should ensure that investigations into money laundering crimes yield more convictions to curb risks and improve confidence in the country’s AML/CTF compliance.

The administration should also tighten oversight of high-risk sectors like digital platforms, accelerate beneficial ownership transparency, and strengthen inter-agency coordination, he added.

Source: Business World

New law allows foreign investors to lease land in the Philippines for up to 99 years

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. signed into law a measure that allows foreigners to lease land in the Philippines for up to 99 years.

Republic Act (RA) No. 12252 amends RA No. 7652 or the Investors’ Lease Act by further liberalizing the lease of private lands by foreign investors.

“It is the policy of the State to ensure the reliability of investors’ lease contracts to provide a stable environment for foreign investments,” the law read.

The law extends the term of foreign investors’ land leases to 99 years from the current 75, putting the country in line with policies of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Under the law, the President, upon the recommendation of the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) or other agencies, can impose a shorter lease period for foreign investors in sectors considered as “critical infrastructure” in the interest of national security.

The law allows long-term land lease for “the establishment of industrial estates, factories, assembly or processing plants, agro-industrial enterprises, land development for industrial or commercial use, tourism, agriculture, agro-forestry, ecological conservation and other similar priority productive endeavors.”

In the case of tourism projects, the 99-year lease is limited to projects with an investment of not less than $5 million, 70% of which will be invested in the project within three years.

Under the law, foreign investors that violate the lease contracts face a fine of between P1 million to P10 million or imprisonment of up to six years.

The lease contract can be terminated if the foreign investor fails to start the investment project within three years of the signing.

This measure was a priority by Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council for passage before the 19th Congress adjourned.

Mr. Marcos signed the law on Sept. 3, but a copy of the law was uploaded on the Official Gazette website on Sept. 4.

The law takes effect 15 days after it has been published in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation.

Source: Business World