By Jose Cielito Reganit
MANILA – The House prosecution on Monday laid out subjects it intends to establish through Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura, led by PHP4.4 billion in reported transactions involving Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases “Mans” Carpio.
Private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia made the offer before Buenaventura’s direct examination in the Senate impeachment court.
“Mula 2007 hanggang 2025, PHP4.4 billion ang iniulat sa AMLC. Ito ang kabuuang halaga ng mga transaksyon nina (From 2007 to 2025, PHP4.4 billion was reported by the AMLC. This is the total transaction made by) VP Sara and Atty. Manases Carpio,” Divinagracia alleged.
The Oct. 1 AMLC summary placed the precise aggregate at PHP4,400,089,940.70, covering 666 covered transaction reports and 55 suspicious transaction reports after overlapping entries were removed. The amount represents aggregate reported transactions, not a finding that the entire sum was income, net worth or an account balance.
Divinagracia said the records classified PHP1.630 billion as inflows and PHP1.308 billion as outflows. Another PHP1.462 billion could not be classified in either direction.
“At least PHP1.6 billion came in, at least PHP1.3 billion went out, and no record shows where it went,” she said.
The prosecution said the PHP4.4-billion aggregate remained after BPI (Bank of Philippine Islands) corrected what Divinagracia described as an error in its reporting system. An earlier AMLC presentation before the House had placed the amount at PHP6.77 billion.
“Even after a bank corrected its own error, PHP4.4 billion in aggregate transactions remained,” she said.
Prosecutors also offered Buenaventura’s testimony on six cash transactions attributed to Carpio on Aug. 6, 2024.
Divinagracia placed their combined value at PHP41 million – PHP23 million from BDO and PHP18 million from PNB (Philippine National Bank) – and said Duterte’s 2024 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth contained no declared cash.
“Her husband walked out of two banks with PHP41 million in cash in a single day,” she said.
The House prosecution also seeks to establish that PHP319 million from companies in China was allegedly remitted to Cale88 Foods Corporation, a company in which Duterte’s husband allegedly holds a 47.5-percent interest.
“Money from China poured into a food manufacturing company of her husband,” Divinagracia said.
The offer did not identify the companies that sent the remittances, the dates and individual amounts of the transactions or their stated commercial purpose. It also did not say that the money entered Carpio’s personal bank accounts.
Other proposed subjects included PHP41 million in cash transactions attributed to Carpio on Aug. 6, 2024; checks totaling PHP14,881,692 that allegedly named Duterte as beneficiary; and repeated reports filed concerning the couple.
Divinagracia said Duterte’s file contained 34 suspicious transaction reports.
She also cited 27 derogatory reports concerning Duterte and 17 concerning Carpio, with reported categories that included graft and corrupt practices, malversation of public funds, possible drug links and transactions connected to alleged flood-control anomalies.
Divinagracia said the financial figures that the prosecution intends to present came from institutional reports received, kept and submitted by AMLC to the impeachment court on July 30, 2026.
“Every figure comes from the banks’ own reports,” she said. (PNA)
OFFER OF CASE. Private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia lays out subjects the House prosecution intends to establish through the Anti-Money Laundering Council during the continuation of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday (Oct. 5, 2026). The case involves alleged PHP4.4 billion in reported transactions involving Duterte and her husband, Manases “Mans” Carpio.
