MANILA – Financial records presented to lawmakers revealed that billions of pesos in bank transactions linked to Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio, were flagged by regulators over nearly two decades.
Testifying before the House Committee on Justice, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura said the agency’s database shows both “covered” and “suspicious” transactions associated with the couple from 2006 to 2025, amounting to PHP6.77 billion.
According to the AMLC’s consolidated report, Duterte’s accounts were involved in 330 flagged transactions, while Carpio’s had 333. These included hundreds of automatically reported large deposits as well as dozens marked suspicious by banks.
Of the total, PHP3.77 billion was traced to Duterte’s accounts and PHP2.99 billion to Carpio’s.
The data also indicated total deposits of PHP4.43 billion, with PHP1.83 billion entering Duterte’s accounts and PHP2.59 billion going into Carpio’s. Withdrawals reached PHP1.21 billion and PHP343.32 million, respectively.
Investigators also encountered PHP791.1 million in transactions that could not be fully categorized due to incomplete information.
The report highlighted spikes in financial activity, particularly between 2009 and 2013, when yearly transaction volumes exceeded PHP400 million. Earlier, activity had already climbed to over PHP200 million in 2007.
Across a longer timeline, the AMLC tracked PHP3.92 billion in transactions spanning 417 entries from 2005 to 2026, with activity declining in more recent years.
Most of the transactions were recorded as credit and debit memos, along with fund transfers, while smaller portions involved time deposits, withdrawals, and check deposits.
Lawmakers scrutinizing the records pointed out that the scale of these transactions did not appear to match disclosures in Duterte’s SALNs, raising questions about possible gaps between reported wealth and actual financial activity.
Buenaventura explained that banks are required to report transactions exceeding PHP500,000 in a single day, while suspicious transactions are flagged when patterns suggest irregular or potentially unlawful activity.
He stressed that the AMLC’s analysis is driven by financial data rather than personalities.
“Our focus is on how money moves—its flow, frequency, and patterns—not on who is involved,” he told the panel, adding that the agency continuously monitors flagged transactions and compiles reports when required.
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