Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura testified before the Senate impeachment court on Monday, October 5. Photo from Senate Social Media Unit.
Manuel Mogato | October 5, 2026
MANILA — The government’s financial intelligence agency has flagged Vice President Sara Duterte’s hundreds of bank transactions since 2007, including inflows connected with possible graft and illegal activities.
Taking the witness stand, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura told the Senate impeachment court that more than 4.4 billion pesos passed through several bank accounts of the vice president and her husband in the last 20 years.
Buenaventura said the local banks reported to the AMLC a total of 666 covered transactions and 55 suspicious transactions, including foreign currency remittances and deposits.
Any single banking transaction exceeding 500,000 pesos is a covered transaction that banks must report to the AMLC for possible money laundering coming from illegal activities. (Also read: Vice President received cash, chocolates, and cars as gifts)
Suspicious transactions, on the other hand, were flagged by banks, regardless of amount, due to unverified sources, unusual financial profiles, or possible structuring.
Buenaventura said some of the vice president’s bank transactions were flagged for possible links to graft and corruption involving government infrastructure projects and malversation of public funds connected to confidential and intelligence funds.
There was also a report on money coming from a known drug syndicate in 2011 and 2012 before she was elected vice president, while her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, was linked to a 6 billion peso drug smuggling case when the vice president’s father, Rodrigo Duterte, was president from 2016 to 2022. (Also read: Vice President’s younger brother denies knowledge of his sister’s business transactions)
Separately, Chinese companies from mainland China and Hong Kong funneled 319 million pesos in suspected transactions after the AMLC found no legal or trade basis for the cash inflows. (Also read: China funnels 300 million pesos to Vice President’s husband’s food company)
Buenaventura also testified that the former president and his daughter held a joint bank account and that more than 190 million pesos moved in a single day in 2014.
He said the money was transferred from one bank account to another account in the same bank
The vice president’s lawyers attempted to stop the Senate impeachment court from hearing the AMLC’s testimonies, arguing that the law prohibits banks and the AMLC from disclosing bank accounts and transactions.
But the impeachment court denied the defense panel’s motion, ruling that bank accounts and transactions may be disclosed in impeachment proceedings.
Buenaventura also confirmed 18 transactions identified by former senator Antonio Trillanes IV in his sworn statements had matched AMLC records.
Prosecutors noted the bank accounts were not disclosed in the vice president’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).