ASEANEWS HEADLINE-VP DU30 IMPEACHMENT | MANILA: AMLC flags VP Sara’s P6.7 billion bank transactions

Testifying before the House committee on justice’s clarificatory hearing, as part of ongoing impeachment proceedings against Duterte, AMLC executive director Ronel Buenaventura confirmed that certain transactions had been flagged by the agency.

“Yes, there are suspicious transactions and covered transactions in our system, database or record,” Buenaventura told the committee.

In a summary report, Buenaventura said the AMLC identified 313 covered transactions and 17 suspicious transactions in Duterte’s accounts, and 317 covered transactions and 16 suspicious transactions in her husband’s.

The flagged transactions totaled P6.77 billion, broken down into P3.77 billion linked to Duterte’s accounts and P2.99 billion to Carpio’s.

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LIVE: House impeachment hearing vs VP Sara Duterte | April 22

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The House Committee on Justice on Wednesday, April 22, resumes its deliberations on the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte. | via Noy Morcoso

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Buenaventura said the records showed an inflow of P1.83 billion into Duterte’s accounts and P2.59 billion into Carpio’s, or P4.43 billion in total deposits.

On the outflow side, he said P1.21 billion was withdrawn from Duterte’s accounts and P343.32 million from Carpio’s.

The AMLC identified P791.1 million in transactions that could not be clearly determined based on available records. It also noted a marked increase in the historical trend of Duterte’s bank transactions, which surged to P208.15 million in 2007.

The volume further intensified between 2009 and 2013, with annual totals averaging over P400 million.

Specific figures included P704.93 million in 2009 and P597.15 million in 2011, while 2010 recorded P648.58 million.

Overall, the AMLC recorded a total of P3.92 billion across 417 transactions from 2005 to 2026, noting that financial activity tapered in the most recent years.

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The bulk of the transactions involved credit memos amounting to P1.41 billion, debit memos at P1.03 billion, and fund transfers totaling P521.86 million.

This was followed by time deposit pre-terminations of P218.74 million and miscellaneous transactions of P209.29 million.

Other transactions identified included time deposit placements and payments amounting to P109.15 million each, withdrawals totaling P62.79 million and check deposits worth P48.33 million.

Commenting on the AMLC revelations, Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua said the bank transactions were not reflected in the Vice President’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs).

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Buenaventura explained that covered transactions refer to bank deposits of over P500,000 in a single day, which are automatically reported to the AMLC.

Suspicious transactions, meanwhile, are those flagged by banks due to red flags or doubts over their legitimacy, including possible links to unlawful sources, regardless of the amount.

He also cited Section 3 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, which defines suspicious transactions as those with no underlying legal or trade obligation, involving improperly identified clients, or amounts inconsistent with a client’s business or financial capacity.

Buenaventura added that suspicious transactions also cover transactions that appear structured, linked to unlawful activity or money laundering, show deviations from a client’s normal behavior or profile, or fall under any analogous circumstances indicating possible irregularity.

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The AMLC furnished the justice committee with two sets of documents: a report on covered transactions involving Duterte and her husband, and another on suspicious transactions from 2006 to 2025, as indicated in the subpoena. It also submitted financial intelligence and investigation reports.

When asked whether the reports were produced only in compliance with the subpoena, Buenaventura said the AMLC has been continuously monitoring transactions flagged by banks.

He added that the agency merely generated its latest consolidated report, which still includes data it already had dating back to earlier years.

“We do not choose personality. What we are looking at are the data and numbers. So, what we are looking for, more than the people behind, what is the movement, flow, frequency and flow of the money and if there are something unusual in the flow. We are running after the money, not the people behind the money,” Buenaventura said.

Under-declaration?

The ombudsman earlier confirmed to the justice committee that Duterte declared no cash on hand or bank deposits for six consecutive years from 2019 to 2024, even as her net worth rose more than ten times to P88.4 million in 2024 from a mere P7 million in 2007.

Committee members believe the discrepancy in Duterte’s SALNs may indicate a pattern of under-declaration, raising questions about her reported wealth – an issue central to determining probable cause for impeachment based on allegations of unexplained and ill-gotten wealth.

“For me, the sudden and continuous absence of declaration of liquid assets… despite previous existence of amounts of cash on hand/cash in bank, brings about doubt on the accuracy and completeness of VP Sara’s subsequent SALNs,” House senior deputy minority leader and ML party-list Rep. Leila de Lima said.

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Meanwhile, deputy minority leader and ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio questioned the seemingly “copy-paste” pattern among Duterte’s SALNs, with the ombudsman confirming identical real asset declarations for 2009 to 2011 and for 2016 and 2017.

Luistro hits Sara no-show

Justice committee chair and Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville Luistro hit Duterte anew for her absence in the House hearing, despite finding time to issue press releases on trivial matters, such as her alleged college grades.

“The truth is, we were already ghosted, and we are also being gaslighted. The important question is where the money is, but the answer to us is about the college grades. And the worst part? This explanation is not being made here, but everywhere else. What we want is a sworn testimony, but what is being given to us are press releases, and social media content,” she said.

Luistro said the committee is entering the “territory of forensic truth” following testimonies from the AMLC and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Reacting to Luistro, Duterte counsel Paolo Panelo reiterated that the Vice President has no reason to attend the hearing as even panel members were barred from asking probing questions.

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“The ghosting part is right. We already have ghost projects, and now we are being gaslighted that the VP is the problem,” he told The STAR.

Lawyering for Duterte?

During yesterday’s hearing, justice committee vice chairperson and Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. raised a technicality by saying that the absence of any damning SALN attachments to the impeachment cases should not fly – a matter corrected by Luistro as “allowed under House rules.”

Garbin insisted it was unfair for the panel to deliberate on the SALNs, especially since Duterte has not been afforded the right to rebut the accusations, but Luistro clarified that the Vice President has been given the opportunity to explain her side under oath, even having her name called out during the hearing.

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Garbin echoed the sentiments of Sagip party-list Paolo Marcoleta, a non-committee member, who had been repeatedly questioning the legality of the justice panel hearing – to no avail. – Delon Porcalla, Bella Cariaso