The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) flagged ₱4.4 billion in bank transactions tied to Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, from 2007 to 2025, according to its executive director, Ronel Buenaventura.
Testifying before the Senate impeachment court on Monday, Oct. 5, Buenaventura said the flagged bank transactions came from 666 covered transaction reports (CTRs) and 55 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) to the AMLC.
In CTRs, financial institutions and nondesignated nonfinancial businesses and professions must report to AMLC for cash or other equivalent nonmonetary-instrument transactions exceeding ₱500,000.
STRs, on the other hand, are those, regardless of amount, in which certain suspicious circumstances are determined, such as “no clear legal trade or economic purpose; the client’s identity is not properly established, or the amount involved is inconsistent with the client’s financial capacity,” among others.
Both reports involving the Vice President and her husband were flagged for allegedly being related, among other matters, to the flood control controversy and drug trafficking.
Money from China
One key finding was AMLC records of STRs that showed ₱319.3 million in remittances from China to a food company owned by Carpio, Cale88 Foods Corp.
Asked by private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia how much was the total remittances coming from China that Cale88 received, Buenaventura said the aggregate amount was ₱319.32 million and this involved “inward remittances to Cale88 Foods Corp., from China and other countries.”
Some ₱315.93 million of the amount was remitted from mainland China, while ₱3.39 million came from Hong Kong.
Buenaventura’s testimony confirmed former senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s claim last Friday, Oct. 2, that China’s remittances went to a food manufacturing firm linked to the Vice President’s husband.
As the impeachment hearing was ongoing, Trillanes took to social media to call on government agencies, such as the Department of National Defense, the National Security Council, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Nica), and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate the matter.
National security
“[T]his is because of its serious national security implications that an incumbent vice president is taking money from a hostile foreign country. This goes beyond the impeachment,” Trillanes said in Filipino.
Before Buenaventura took the witness stand, defense lawyer Mark Vinluan asked the impeachment court to exclude him as a witness, citing Section 9(c) and 14(d) of Republic Act (RA) No. 9160, or the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla) of 2001, as amended, together with Section A of RA 11521, which amends the law.
The two provisions prohibit covered persons and their officers and employees from disclosing covered or suspicious transaction reports and impose penalties for this breach.
But Senate presiding officer Francis Escudero said Section 14(d), as amended, “does not enlarge those provisions, declare AMLC reports inadmissible, or create an express privilege against a subpoena.”
“Compliance with the lawful orders, subject to proper safeguards, does not constitute, to the mind of the court, such a breach,” he said.
He said that while Section 8(a) of the amended Amla requires AMLC and its secretariat to protect information received or processed and bars its unauthorized revelation, the provision also directed the council to “establish rules governing information exchange and dissemination as well as access to such information.”
“The provision therefore regulates the manner and conditions of disclosure…and does not command absolute silence under every circumstance,” Escudero said.
He denied Vinluan’s motion to exclude Buenaventura, saying the AMLC official could “identify, authenticate, and explain the report specified in the subpoena.” But he also made clear the ruling “does not authorize unrestricted public disclosure.”
Breakdown
In a tabular summary that Buenaventura submitted to the impeachment court, he presented the breakdown of the total 666 flagged bank transactions as follows:
• For Duterte, there were 373 CTRs and 34 STRs, with an “aggregate” amount of ₱3.732 billion. Her husband was reported with 363 CTRs and 30 STRs, with an aggregate amount of ₱749.92 million. The combined amount was ₱4.4 billion.
• Of the ₱4.4 billion transactions, inflows amounted to ₱1.63 billion and outflows to ₱1.3 billion, while ₱1.263 billion was reported as “undetermined if inflow or outflow. In offering Buenaventura’s testimony, Divinagracia said there was “no record showing where it went.”
On Divinagracia’s questioning, Buenaventura testified that AMLC records showed three STRs on Duterte dated June 25, 2019, July 4, 2019, and Nov. 15, 2019, that were linked to the flood control controversy.
The government is currently investigating several lawmakers and contractors who allegedly benefited from billions of pesos in ghost or substandard flood control projects from the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Vinluan objected to the presentation of the STRs, saying this was not the baseline information the impeachment court had agreed to look into earlier.
“We are not establishing [a] baseline. We are establishing a pattern, which is an allowable purpose for the presentation (of evidence),” Divinagracia shot back. Escudero agreed with her.
Flood control, drug trafficking
On all three STRs, based on records reported by the covered person, Buenaventura said the reason for the STRs was due to “graft and corrupt practices.”
He said several news outlets recently released a list of several individuals and corporations identified as being involved in the DPWH flood control issue, prompting the filing of a suspicious transaction report.”
One STR, dated Aug. 1, 2024, indicated “drug trafficking and related offenses,” he said, following reports that Carpio, Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, and eight others were charged with the alleged ₱6.4-billion shabu importation in 2017.
On Divinagracia’s questioning, Buenaventura also said ₱193.70 million was transferred between joint accounts of Duterte and her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, on a single day, March 28, 2014.
The witness agreed with Escudero that it was an “inter-account transfer or a movement of funds from one account to a client’s account on the same bank.”
“These are treated as unique transactions,” Buenaventura said.
Indirect threat
On Vinluan’s cross-examination of the witness, senator-judges Raffy Tulfo, Francis Pangilinan, Vicente Sotto III and Risa Hontiveros called him out for indirectly threatening AMLC officials and other “end users” with legal liability for disclosing confidential information on the bank transactions of Duterte and her husband.
“Give us a break. Walang takutan,” Tulfo said, adding that even the media was being threatened for reporting Buenaventura’s testimony.
Tulfo said the impeachment court had already authorized the use of the AMLC documents that it had subpoenaed.
Hontiveros said there should be “no chilling effect” on the media, which reports on the impeachment trial that helps people understand and form an opinion.
Pangilinan reiterated that the impeachment court had already ruled on the use of the AMLC documents and said the defense team could always raise it to the Supreme Court.
He said it was a “matter of concern” should defense lawyers in their cross-examination also tell the impeachment court of its criminal liability. “I believe this is uncalled for,” he added.
Sotto reminded defense lawyers that senator-judges have “parliamentary immunity.”
A heated exchange came about between Divinagracia and Vinluan after the defense lawyer sought more time to consolidate data to cross-examine Buenaventura.
Divinagracia said the defense was resorting to a “dilatory” tactic, which was slammed by lead defense counsel Sheila Sison, who said it was only fair to give them more time to cross-examine the witness.
After consulting with senator-judges, Escudero said the impeachment court is adjourning its session given that it had been a long day and out of concern for Buenaventura. The witness had earlier said he did not take lunch during the break because he was “nervous.” CS
