HOUSE Senior Deputy Majority Leader Lorenz Defensor of Iloilo on Thursday admitted he was shocked by the scale of the transactions flagged by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) during the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte.
Interviewed on “The Spokes” program on Bilyonaryo News Channel, Defensor said he was particularly surprised by the reported P6.77 billion in covered and suspicious transactions linked to Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio.
The Iloilo lawmaker said he did not expect the amount flagged by the AMLC to reach such a massive level.
“Ako, nagulat,” Defensor said when asked about the AMLC disclosures before the House Committee on Justice.
“Hindi ko ine-expect na ganun kalaki. Kasi may bali-balita na may mga secret bank accounts ang mga Duterte. Pero ‘yung ganun kalaki, mabibigla ka,” Defensor said.
The AMLC earlier disclosed before the Justice panel that it had flagged a combined 630 covered transactions and 33 suspicious transactions totaling P6.7 billion involving Duterte and her spouse.
Of the total amount, around P3.77 billion allegedly involved Duterte’s transactions, while nearly P3 billion were linked to Carpio.
On Monday, Atty. Peter Paul Danao, speaking for the camp of Atty. Manases Carpio, said that the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) clarified the reported “P2 billion” amount was in fact “P2 million,” supposedly caused by a “system glitch.”
Defensor welcomed the submission of documents by the AMLC and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) during the committee proceedings, stressing that impeachment carries greater constitutional weight than an ordinary congressional inquiry.
“Magandang nilabas din ‘yun ng AMLC at ng BIR, ‘yung iba nilang dokumento. Because they should not refuse a constitutional body like an impeachment hearing of the Committee on Justice,” Defensor said.
“Hindi lang ‘yun simpleng legislative inquiry, it’s an impeachment process,” he added.
The BIR submitted tax-related records involving the Vice President, her husband, and their companies, although the justice committee ultimately voted against opening the sealed box containing the documents due to confidentiality concerns under the National Internal Revenue Code.
The sealed box remains in the custody of the House and is expected to be transmitted to the Senate along with the impeachment records if the trial proceeds.
The Senate impeachment court would then decide whether to open and admit the documents into evidence.
The Justice committee already found probable cause to impeach Duterte after weeks of hearings and later adopted the committee report, resolution, and Articles of Impeachment against her.
The House plenary is set to vote on the committee report and the Articles of Impeachment on May 11.
