The lawyer of Manases ‘Mans’ Carpio on Monday called a ‘fishing expedition’ the House of Representatives committee on justice’s move to disclose his bank transactions and tax returns as part of the impeachment complaint proceedings against his wife Vice President Sara Duterte.
Carpio’s counsel Peter Paul Danao insisted that his client’s bank transactions and tax records dating as far back as 2007 should not have been part of the impeachment hearings, noting that Carpio was a private individual and Duterte was only an impeachable officer as Vice President starting in 2022.
‘It is a fishing expedition precisely because of the all-encompassing and extensive information they are seeking,’ he told reporters.
‘If, as they claim, the impeachment complaint is already sufficient in substance, why would there still be a need to obtain evidence? Why do they need to subpoena bank transactions and tax returns prior to 2022?’ he said.
Danao urged the House committee on justice to first let the court resolve the case before attempting to open the sealed box containing the tax returns of the couple as part of the impeachment complaint proceedings on April 29.
‘If they know that there’s a pending case, the proper thing to do is to await the court’s decision, right? That’s judicial courtesy,’ he said.
On April 10, Carpio filed a petition for prohibition and injunction with the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 10, in an attempt to stop the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) from releasing his tax records from 2007 to 2025 to the House committee on justice.
Batangas Second District Rep. Gerville Luistro, the panel’s chair, however, said the committee already had possession of his tax returns, rendering Carpio’s request moot and preempting his attempt to secure a temporary restraining order.
Danao said they filed a motion for reconsideration before the court to stop the BIR from opening the sealed box.
‘We will just inform the court on the next actions and then let the court decide whether or not the supposed future action of the House committee on justice is constitutive of contempt,’ he added.
On Monday, Carpio filed a criminal complaint against officials of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and House lawmakers for violating bank secrecy and privacy laws during the impeachment hearings last week.
Named respondents in the complaint filed before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office were Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli Remolona, Jr., who also serves as AMLC’s chair, and newly appointed AMLC executive director Ronel Buenaventura.
Also named were Luistro, as House committee on justice chair; committee member and Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno; and Representatives Percival Cendaña and Leila de Lima of Akbayan and Mamamayang Liberal party-lists, respectively.
Carpio accused them of violating Section 8-A of Republic Act No. 9160, or the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) as amended by RA 11521; Section 2 in relation to Section 5 of RA 1405, or the Bank Secrecy Law; and Section 32(b) of RA 10173, or the Data Privacy Act of 2012.
In his complaint, Carpio alleged that the respondents ‘connived to illegally disclose and divulge classified confidential banking records.’
Remolona and Buenaventura as AMLC officials violated Section 8-A of RA 9160, an amendment to the AMLA introduced in 2021, prohibiting them from ‘[revealing], in any manner, any information known to them by reason of their office.’
‘This law is deliberated by the House and the Senate. If they intend to add exemptions to this prohibition, then they should have inserted it. But the law is clear that there are no exemptions,’ Danao said.
According to Danao, several lawmakers were also named as respondents in the case, not because of their political affiliations, but their role during the April 22 impeachment proceedings of the House committee on justice.
‘These congressmen were the one who motioned and approved for AMLC to reveal this information. They were the ones who signed the subpoena for these bank records and tax returns,’ the lawyer said.
‘Every one who has a hand on this should be made accountable. If they violated laws, then the proper thing to do is to file a case against them,’ he added.
According to Danao, AMLC did not gain the consent of neither Carpio nor Duterte in revealing their bank transactions.
He said they wrote to AMLC on April 16, warning their officials that disclosing information related to their bank transactions was illegal.
During the House deliberations on the impeachment complaints against Duterte on April 22, Buenaventura told lawmakers that banks flagged 33 suspicious transactions and 630 covered dealings worth P6.7 billion from 2005 to 2026 traced to bank accounts under Duterte and Carpio.
Of the 600 total transactions involving their accounts, the banks flagged 33 for being ‘suspicious” or involving amounts exceeding P500,000 in a single day, Buenaventura said.
Transactions considered ‘suspicious’ under the Philippine banking system refer to cash flows that arouse doubt about the client’s identity, trade obligations, or financial capacity.
Asked for comment, Danao said: ‘How can our client deny or admit these transactions if we were never provided a copy of these reports from AMLC?’
‘But based on our conversation with Attorney Carpio, he vehemently denies having P6 billion worth of transactions in their bank accounts,’ he added.