The lawyer of Atty. Manases “Mans” Carpio is pushing back against financial intelligence reports that linked him and Vice President Sara Duterte to P6.7 billion in covered and suspicious transactions, questioning the underlying bank documents behind the Anti-Money Laundering Council’s findings.
Atty. Peter Paul Danao, speaking to Super Radyo dzBB, said Carpio flatly denies having accounts containing that magnitude of funds. “Noong nag-usap kami (Carpio), talagang dine-deny niya ‘yung sinasabing P3 billion o P6 billion daw na may laman doon sa accounts niya. Wala siyang ganoong pera,” Danao said.
Danao added that they have not yet received a copy of the AMLC report and are demanding to see whether the flagged transactions originated from actual bank submissions. “‘Yung mismong report ng bangko papunta sa AMLC na sinasabing ganyang transaction, ‘yun ang gusto naming makita—kung totoo bang may report ang bangko sa AMLC tungkol sa mga ganyang alleged transactions,” he said.
The AMLC reports were submitted last Wednesday by Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura before the House committee on justice’s impeachment hearing against the Vice President, in compliance with a subpoena. The documents covered Suspicious Transaction Reports and Covered Transaction Reports spanning 2006 to 2025, along with Financial Intelligence Reports on both the Vice President and her husband. Of the P6.7-billion total, P3.7 billion was attributed to Duterte and approximately P2.998 billion to Carpio.
Carpio is set to file criminal complaints Monday against AMLC and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas officials, as well as members of the House committee on justice, for alleged violations of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, bank secrecy laws, and the Data Privacy Act. He argues that AMLA treats the confidentiality of bank records as “absolute and without exception” in order to preserve the stability and integrity of the financial system.
He further alleged that the disclosed records — which he said included insurance payments, time deposits, investments, and utility bill payments — were leaked and weaponized for what he called “black propaganda and political harassment,” rather than for any legitimate regulatory purpose.
