(UPDATE) VICE President Sara Duterte on Thursday said reports by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) that she and her husband had P6.7 billion in bank transactions over the last 20 years were “untrue,” and that real thieves do not put money in banks, but rather in suitcases.
Her statement came after testimony before the House Committee on Justice, which is hearing impeachment complaints against her, detailed bank transactions that were not reflected in Duterte’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs).
In the same hearing, which she did not attend, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV alleged that Duterte received millions of pesos from alleged drug lord Sammy Uy, and had ill-gotten wealth alongside her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.
In a statement on Thursday, Duterte said that Trillanes has been “peddling the same incredible story about alleged billions in bank accounts,” for the past 10 years.
But Trillanes, Duterte said, is now backed by a “sitting president who must be compelled to submit to a simple drug test; ‘law-bender’ members of the House of Representatives that have received ‘maletas’ (suitcases) and have repeatedly disregarded constitutional limits; a Commission on Audit that appears to time its issuances in a manner that conveniently aligns with political attacks; and newly installed AMLC officials who remain silent and refuse to clarify that there have been no findings of violations of anti-money laundering laws, and the billions of peso in bank accounts are untrue.”
“The timing of all this also cannot be denied. The series of allegations and cases against me began after I left the Cabinet, at a time when I refused to sign a national budget that I could not defend to the people,” Duterte said.
She said her service record is clean, she did not have a case involving the use of public funds, and she declared all her assets and money in her SALN.
Duterte was accused of misusing the confidential funds of her office, a charge that was supported by documents showing that the funds were disbursed to people with fictitious names that combined the names of restaurants and snack food brands, such as Mary Grace Piattos.
“Every centavo comes from a legitimate source and is supported by documentation. Real thieves do not put their money in the bank — they put it in suitcases,” Duterte said.
Instead of explaining the bank transactions, however, Duterte attacked the administration for the billions lost to corruption.
She urged Filipinos to “not be deceived by the noise of this impeachment.”
But Malacañang said the vice president should explain the billions of pesos in transactions flagged by the AMLC, saying that accountability and transparency were expected from all public servants like her.
Speaking to reporters, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said these revelations were not new and did not warrant a comment from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
“It would be better for us to hear the Vice President’s reaction because billion-peso transactions in her bank accounts have been disclosed,” she added.
Meanwhile, Duterte’s impeachment defense team said the P6.7-billion bank transactions that were unreported in her SALN are aggregated transactions from 2006 to 2025, which could lead for the figures to be “bloated.”
They also reiterated that her continued nonappearance before the panel is based on their position that the committee has no jurisdiction on the ongoing proceedings.
In a press briefing on Thursday, Defense panel spokesman Michael Wesley Poa said the AMLC presented the aggregate of all transactions during the years covered.
“All inflows, all outflows are added up, so there is a tendency for those figures to be bloated,” Poa said.
He added that if both outflows and inflows are “bloated,” it means that the net amount of transactions will be bloated.
“It is not determinative or conclusive how much [is] inside the account. For us we believe the numbers are bloated,” Poa said.
He said that Duterte’s SALNs before she became vice president should not be included in the discussion.
In the House hearing on Wednesday, the AMLC noted a significant increase in Duterte’s assets, which grew from P504,000 in 2005 to P280 million in 2007, when she was first elected as vice mayor of Davao City.
Meanwhile, amid calls for her to show up at the House impeachment hearing, lead counsel Shiela Sison reiterated that the current proceedings are “unconstitutional” as they believe that the evidence should only be scrutinized at the proper forum, which is the Senate Impeachment Court.
Several current and former lawmakers also defended Duterte from unexplained wealth claims and the figures presented by the AMLC.
“An AMLC report is not a conviction. It is not proof of plunder. It is not proof of malversation. It is not proof that public funds entered a personal account,” Davao City 3rd District Rep. Isidro Ungab said.
He said that under AMLC rules, a suspicious transaction may be reported based on red flags such as unusual activity, lack of apparent economic purpose, deviation from a client’s profile, or possible relation to unlawful activity.
“If there is real evidence of money laundering, the law provides the proper route: the AMLC may cause the filing of complaints with the DOJ or the Ombudsman for prosecution of money laundering offenses. Until that happens, the House cannot treat ‘reported transaction’ as equal to ‘stolen money,’” Ungab said.
Without citing any figures or proof, former Bagong Henerasyon Partylist representative Bernadette Herrera said the claims against Duterte are not only “inaccurate but also exaggerated.”
“They are stretching the facts in order to paint a negative picture against the vice president. This is all being done to condition the minds of the people even before any real evidence has been presented to substantiate the allegations against the vice president,” Herrera said.
