AN Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) official who had flagged about P6.77 billion in “suspicious” and “covered” transactions involving Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases “Mans” Carpio, is set to testify Monday, Oct. 5, before the Senate impeachment court.
AMLC Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura is expected to testify on financial records involving Duterte, Carpio and companies in which the couple have financial interests.
The records, which include covered and suspicious transactions, inward remittances and insurance- and investment-related transactions, are part of the prosecution’s evidence under Article II of the impeachment complaint.
Article II accuses Duterte of amassing unexplained wealth, failing to fully and truthfully disclose her and her husband’s assets, liabilities and net worth in their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs), and continuing to hold business interests while in office.
Buenaventura had testified before the House Committee on Justice that AMLC records showed 630 covered transaction reports and 33 suspicious transaction reports involving Duterte and Carpio from 2006 to 2025, with a combined value of P6.77 billion.
Also to take the stand are representatives of the Land Bank of the Philippines, Asia United Bank, Philippine Savings Bank, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Bank of the Philippine Islands, Philippine National Bank, and BDO Unibank.
Representatives of Prudential Life, Allianz, Manufacturers Life, FWD Life, BPI-AIA Life, BDO Securities and BDO Life have also been summoned.
The prosecution also intends to call a witness from the Bureau of Internal Revenue to present records on the couple’s income and taxes as part of its effort to build a more complete picture of their finances.
Lead prosecutor Rep. Gerville Luistro has said the bank officials will testify in the order indicated in the prosecution’s subpoena request.
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said Sunday that Duterte’s impeachment trial could end by mid- to late November, although the timetable could still change, depending on the witnesses and the Senate’s schedule.
Gatchalian said he expects 30 to 45 more calendar days of proceedings, noting that the trial has moved faster than expected because the senator-judges and both sides became more familiar with the process, some witnesses were dropped and the impeachment court allotted 11 full hearing days.
The prosecution could finish its presentation on Article II this week or next week before proceeding to Article IV, or bribery, he said.
The schedule could be affected by the Senate’s resumption of plenary sessions in November, a two-week break and the Asean Summit from Nov. 16 to 18.
Gatchalian said the trial had also been delayed by unforeseen developments, including a suspension of proceedings to give the defense more time to review documents.
He said holding an executive session or closing the impeachment proceedings to the public was not discussed but urged the public to focus on the evidence and testimony presented during the trial, saying the proceedings concern the accountability of public officials.
Gatchalian also said Senate Presiding Officer Francis Escudero did not prevent former senator Antonio Trillanes IV from testifying.
He said Escudero consulted the senator-judges before deciding not to issue Trillanes a subpoena.
“There was consultation, and there were many opinions. So it was not his decision alone,” Gatchalian said.
He said the prosecution could have presented Trillanes even without a subpoena because he was already at the Senate.
“So it was an option for the prosecution if they wanted to present him,” he said.
Trillanes had accused Escudero of preventing him from testifying after Escudero refused to subpoena him.
He later asked the House prosecution panel to withdraw him as a witness and held a press conference instead to disclose information he had intended to present during the trial.
Gatchalian said prosecutors could still reconsider presenting Trillanes after the AMLC, banks, insurance companies and the BIR present their evidence on the unexplained wealth allegations.
He said the senator-judges could also ask the AMLC executive about the information raised by Trillanes, noting their broad latitude in questioning witnesses.
Malacañang, meanwhile, questioned the prosecution’s decision to drop the bribery charge against Duterte, saying it was included in the Articles of Impeachment and should be fully addressed.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro acknowledged that the prosecution had discretion over which allegations and witnesses to pursue, but questioned whether abandoning the bribery charge would deprive the public of a full discussion of the accusation.
The House prosecution team said it is confident it has enough witnesses who could piece together the money trail of Duterte’s unexplained wealth even without Trillanes’ testimony.
Documents
Prosecutor and San Juan City Rep. Ysabel Maria “Bel” Zamora said the panel’s next batch of witnesses will present and authenticate official financial and government records before the impeachment court.
“The witnesses we will present next will show documents. Of course, as we’ve said, this takes time — it is a very tedious process — but we must remember that these are official documents, and they need to be presented to the public through the witnesses,” Zamora said in Filipino in a radio interview on Sunday.
“We have the documents, and we also have Sen. Trillanes’ account in mind,” she added.
“We will tie it all together. This means we have witnesses who will testify regarding that, or we will see the connection between our witnesses and what Senator Trillanes stated,” Zamora said.
Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said the coming week is crucial for the panel as it approaches the stretch of its presentation for Article II.
Ridon said the witness from the BIR will dwell on the income, net of taxes, of the Duterte-Carpio couple, “and thus obtain what we have constantly referred to as the most complete picture of the wealth — the alleged wealth — of our vice president and her spouse.”
Prosecutors last week presented evidence involving Duterte’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, corporate interests, real properties and firearms.
