Carpio camp questions House handling of AMLC report, says Mans denied due process

The camp of Manases “Mans” Carpio on Tuesday questioned how lawmakers handled Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) records presented during the House hearing on the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte.

In a Super Radyo dzBB interview, Carpio's spokesperson lawyer Neil Abayon said the husband of the Vice President was denied due process after his financial information was disclosed without prior notice or an opportunity to respond.

He said the bigger issue was not just the disputed figures tied to Carpio’s bank records, but how those details were discussed publicly without first informing him.

“‘Yung big dilemma talaga roon, they disclosed personal circumstances ni Atty. Mans yet he was not notified about it. So, ‘yung right niya ngayon to due process, ‘yung right to notice and to explain, nawala ‘yun sa kanya,” Abayon said.

(The big dilemma there is that they disclosed Atty. Mans’ personal circumstances, yet he was not notified about it. So his right to due process—his right to notice and to explain—was taken away from him.)

Abayon said Carpio was neither notified nor invited to the House committee on justice hearing, despite lawmakers discussing his personal financial records during proceedings linked to the impeachment complaints against Duterte.

“Si Atty. Mans was never notified or never invited doon sa hearing despite pala na idini-disclose ‘yung personal information niya,” he said.

(Atty. Mans was neither notified nor invited to that hearing even though his personal information was being disclosed there.)

Abayon also pushed back against claims that Carpio held as much as P6 billion, saying his client “outright denies” having that amount.

He said one of the transactions cited in discussions on AMLC records involved only P2 million, but was allegedly recorded by the bank as P2 billion before it was later corrected.

Abayon said the larger figures cited in public discussions may also have been inflated by how transactions were totaled in the AMLC report.

“‘Yung assumption namin currently, mukhang na-total nila na P2 billion ‘yung inflow at outflow. So, if you follow the computation doon sa unofficial AMLC report, that’s P4 billion already doon sa computation nila as transactional amount,” he said.

(Our assumption right now is that they may have totaled the P2 billion as both inflow and outflow. So if you follow the computation in the unofficial AMLC report, that already becomes P4 billion in their computation as transactional amount.)

He added that Carpio’s camp has yet to receive what it considers the official AMLC report in full.

Abayon said even Carpio was surprised by reports linking him to billions in alleged transactions.

“Pati si Atty. Mans nagulat na may ganoon daw siyang kalaking pera,” he said.

(Even Atty. Mans was surprised to hear that he supposedly had that much money.)

Earlier, Carpio lawyer Peter Paul Danao also said a supposed P2-billion inflow was the result of a Bank of the Philippine Islands systems error, not evidence of unexplained wealth.

BPI, in response, said that it does not disclose client information or transaction details, except as required under applicable legal processes.

“As a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)-supervised institution, Bank of the Philippine Islands adheres strictly to all applicable laws and regulations, including those governing bank secrecy, data privacy, and consumer protection,” the bank said.

BPI also said it “complies with required reporting and regulatory engagements through the proper authorities, and provides relevant clarifications when necessary.”

According to Jonathan Andal's Monday report on "24 Oras," a copy of the AMLC report submitted to the committee indicated that BPI was taking back information on Carpio's 13 covered transactions because it was wrong, citing a systems bug.

Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, a member of the House justice committee, denied that the discrepancy and glitch were kept from the public. He said it was included in the report.

AMLC report convinced lawmakers

Meanwhile, House justice panel vice chairperson Belle Zamora said the AMLC report convinced skeptical committee members to vote that there is probable cause to impeach Duterte.

Zamora said the AMLC records on the Vice President and her husband’s bank transactions, which were not declared in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth, are evidence that is hard to ignore.

“I understand there are political considerations [at play with how my House colleagues will vote]. Maybe it even applies to all, but we are hopeful that they will look at the evidence, especially the AMLC report. In fact, when the AMLC report came out, may mga kaibigan po tayo na nasa gitna pa ang kanilang boto noon, pero na-convince po sila (we have friends who were still undecided but they were convinced),” Zamora said in an interview with Unang Hirit's On Record.

“Yung one-third vote po, we are going to get that because it is just one-third of the total number of the House members. It's just 106. I believe that a lot of my friends, a lot of my colleagues saw the evidence and I think that they will vote in favor,” she added.

The House justice panel earlier unanimously approved the committee report and the accompanying four Articles of Impeachment against the Vice President, clearing the way for a plenary vote on the measure.

The committee report will still be scheduled for a plenary vote.

Likewise, Zamora said there is no truth to reports that there are lawmakers who withdrew their signatures from the committee report because they have yet to sign it.

“In truth and in fact, when these reports came out about people withdrawing signatures, we hadn’t signed anything at that point. As of yesterday morning, in fact, as of the time that we were having our hearings, what we are discussing is the draft of the committee report and the Resolution on the Articles of Impeachment,” she said.

“There is no one who signed that draft report,” Zamora added. —AOL, GMA News