Chel Diokno submits counter affidavit on Manases Carpio's bank secrecy claim

House Assistant Minority Leader Chel Diokno of Akbayan party-list on Friday filed a counter-affidavit disputing the allegations of Manases Carpio, husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, that the lawmaker violated bank secrecy, anti-money laundering, and privacy laws.

Carpio's complaint filed before the Quezon City Prosecutor's Office stemmed from the disclosure of bank transaction records of the Vice President and her husband during the House justice panel deliberations on the impeachment complaint against the Vice President.

During the House justice panel impeachment hearings, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura testified that the Vice President and her husband, Carpio, recorded P6.7 billion worth of covered and suspicious bank transactions from 2006 to 2025.

The same House justice panel hearings also revealed that the Vice President and her husband, in their joint filing of Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) before the Ombudsman, did not declare any cash on hand or in bank from 2019 to 2024.

"We filed our counter-affidavit in response to the complaint filed by Atty. Carpio against me and other lawmakers. Kami ay naniniwala na wala naman talagang basehan ang kaso. Ginawa lang naman namin ang trabaho namin at ang tungkulin namin sa ilalim ng Constitution," Diokno told reporters.

(We are convinced that the case has no basis. We just did our jobs as provided under the Constitution.)

"We did our duty as a member of the House Committee on Justice. We did not violate any law," Diokno added.

Under the House rules of impeachment proceedings, the House justice committee "has the power to issue compulsory processes for the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents and other related evidence."

The Constitution, on the other hand, states that "the House of Representatives shall have the exclusive power to initiate all cases of impeachment."

The AMLC report disclosed to the House justice panel stated that "a review of the identified inflow transactions shows total inflows of approximately P1.51 billion, with identified inflow activity identified only during the period 2006 to 2022."

The same report also showed that these inflows largely dominated by credit memo transactions amounting to P1.41 billion, accounting for majority of the recorded inflows.

Other notable sources of inflows include check deposits totaling P48.33 million, deposit transactions amounting to P45.73 million, and cash deposits of P4.95 million.

Under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, a covered transaction refers to a cash or equivalent monetary transaction exceeding P500,000 within one banking day.

The law also defines suspicious transactions as dealings with covered institutions—regardless of amount—where there are indicators such as:

• lack of legal or economic basis;
• inconsistency with a client's financial capacity;
• structuring to avoid reporting requirements;
• deviation from a client’s transaction profile; or
• links to unlawful activity

— VDV, GMA News