THE two most compelling grounds that could drive Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s conviction at the Senate impeachment trial are the Anti-Money Laundering Council’s (AMLC) report on the P6.77 billion in flagged transactions of her and her husband’s bank accounts and the grave threats she publicly declared against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former Speaker Martin Romualdez, Atty. Lorna Kapunan said Thursday.
“Ang walang deniability ay itong AMLC, ‘yung report ng AMLA because sa inflow at tsaka outflow ng funds. Arithmetic lang ‘yan eh. How can they say that AMLA through the years, 19-20 years ‘yan, na finalsify ng AMLA for 20 years yung figures na pumapasok sa account tsaka lumalabas sa account at tsaka yung balanse? Mahirap ‘yun. So malakas ‘yung issue ng AMLA,” Kapunan said in an interview on dzMM.
Kapunan stressed that the AMLC’s findings are virtually impossible to deny. Twenty years of covered and suspicious transactions do not falsify themselves, she added. The council flagged a total of P6.77 billion in transactions from Duterte and her husband’s accounts from 2006 to 2025, with a net inflow of P2.88 billion.
Yet Duterte’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) show a declared net worth of only P88.4 million, with no explicit disclosure of cash on hand or bank deposits for six consecutive years since 2019. Her net worth also saw a whopping elevenfold jump from P7 million in 2007, when she was Davao City vice mayor, to P88.4 million in 2024 as vice president.
For Kapunan, the arithmetic alone makes the unexplained wealth allegation one of the strongest grounds in the impeachment case.
On the death threats, the long-time lawyer said the authenticated video of Duterte’s November 2024 virtual press conference is equally damning and equally difficult to walk back. She cited the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) filing of an inciting to sedition and grave threats complaint against the vice president after it had verified the statements she made.
“Ang sunod na malakas ‘yung threats na diniscuss kahapon at plinayback kahapon (Wednesday). Although sinabi na bago plinayback, ito po ay evidence na hindi galing sa House—evidence na galing mismo sa NBI. At bago nila inidentify yung mga videos, sa tanong ng isang congressman, na-authenticate ba ito?” she said.
The NBI authenticated the chain of custody of the video, confirming it was not edited, spliced, or artificially generated, before it was presented to the House Committee on Justice. Meta also complied with the NBI’s request to preserve the original livestream, which was reportedly broadcast from the account of former presidential spokesperson Atty. Harry Roque.
“So napakalakas ng ground na ‘yan. Dadagdag ko na, kitang-kita naman yung galit ng isang vice president, di lang ‘yan, yung mga kapatid niya. Sasabihin nila conditional threat, mga kasama, wala pong conditional threat. A threat is a threat,” Kapunan stressed.
She further dismissed attempts by Duterte’s camp to frame the threats as conditional or rhetorical, pointing out that the vice president was visibly angry at the press conference when she said she had already spoken to an individual and instructed him that should she be killed, he was to kill the first couple and former House speaker.
“It is a threat by itself. Worse than that, the hiring of an assassin by itself. So ngayon may nagfo-float na assassin dito, hindi mo alam kung kailan mag-i-strike ang assassin na ‘yan. Tapos binabaliktad nila na ang threat is sa life ng vice president,” she said.
For Kapunan, the vice president’s public office makes her conduct all the more inexcusable. “You’re vice president of the Philippines. You have no right. You’re a public official. In fact, not only are you a public official, you’re the highest lawyer in a public office, vice president. As vice president, you cannot make jokes or you cannot be rhetorical kasi this goes into your fitness,” she said.
“Dapat tignan natin ang psychological, psychiatric evaluation ng isang public official. Huwag na natin sabihin vice president, any public official who makes a remark like that is, nasabi ko na noon, lutang. Kung hindi lang lutang, hindi nararapat sa position niya,” Kapunan added.
However, Duterte did not appear before the NBI during its preliminary investigation, preventing authorities from examining her physical and psychological fitness to continue serving as vice president of the country.
The House Committee on Justice found probable cause during the April 29 hearing to recommend the impeachment of Duterte on all grounds cited in the two impeachment complaints, including the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds, bribery, unexplained wealth, and grave threats.
The case is expected to be transmitted to the House plenary for a vote on whether to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial.
