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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Banking & Finance devider Ronel Buenaventura appointed as new AMLC executive director

Ronel Buenaventura appointed as new AMLC executive director

Published Apr 13, 2026 06:01 pm  |  Updated Apr 13, 2026 04:02 pm
Ronel Buenaventura
Ronel Buenaventura
Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), the Philippine financial intelligence unit, has entered a new chapter with the appointment of Ronel Buenaventura as its new executive director, succeeding Matthew David.
Buenaventura takes the helm of AMLC at a time when the agency continues to deepen investigations into high-profile, large-scale flood control corruption.
Buenaventura brings an extensive academic and professional pedigree to the position. A legal scholar, he ranked 10th in the 2015 Philippine Bar Examinations and graduated as Class Valedictorian and Magna Cum Laude from Bulacan State University.
He furthered his expertise by obtaining a Master of Corporate Law from the University of Cambridge, where he earned First Class Honors and the Simms Prize for Educational Achievement.
Before his appointment as chief, Buenaventura served as the Acting Deputy Director of the AMLC from 2020 to 2023. His career also includes experience as a Legal Officer for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and an Associate Solicitor at the Office of the Solicitor General.
This background fulfills the statutory requirement that the executive director must be a member of the Philippine Bar with at least five years of service in the BSP, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), or Insurance Commission (IC).
Buenaventura replaces David, who is transitioning to a new role within the BSP. David’s tenure was marked by the removal of the Philippines from the global money laundering “grey list” in February 2025.
Under David’s leadership, the AMLC executed asset freezes and seizures totaling ₱27.8 billion, targeting nearly 900 individuals and 650 entities.
Buenaventura inherits this massive probe into corruption linked to flood-control projects, with the AMLC recently filing three petitions for civil forfeiture involving assets allegedly tied to these anomalies.
The ongoing probe involves 8,000 bank accounts and over 200 real properties, seizures of vehicles and aircraft, and webs of interlinked accounts and diverse asset types.
As the agency transitions leadership, it remains focused on ramping up internal processes to improve the efficiency of these financial probes.

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AMLC money laundering Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)
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