Lawyer Manases R. Carpio, husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, filed on Monday, April 27, criminal charges against Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. as chairman of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), the executive director of AMLC, and four members of the House of Representatives (HOR).

In a complaint-affidavit, Carpio charged them with alleged violations of Republic Act No. 9160, the Anti-Money Laundering Act; RA 1405, the Bank Secrecy Law; and RA 10173, the Data Privacy Act.

Carpio filed the charges against the respondents in their private capacity before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.

The charges arose from the Vice President’s impeachment complaints which are now undergoing proceedings before the HOR’s Committee on Justice.

Aside from Remolona, also charged were AMLC Executive Director Ronel U. Buenaventura, and HOR members Gerville Reyes-Luistro as head of the Committee on Justice, Percival P. Cendana, Jose Manuel T. Diokno, and Leila M. de Lima.

Under the rules, the prosecutors have to evaluate the complaint to determine if a preliminary investigation would be conducted. Those named as respondents would be asked to submit their counter affidavits at the start of the preliminary investigation which would determine if the charges should be dismissed or should be filed before the court.

In his affidavit, Carpio said he filed the charges due to the respondents’ “conspiratorial act of disclosing and divulging to the general public the purported reports of banks to the AMLC concerning my account deposits, withdrawal, bank balances and related records without prior notice, nor my prior written consent, and worse, despite my vehement cautionary objection during the widely publicized hearing of the House Committee on Justice (HCOJ) on 22 April 2026.”

During the April 22 proceedings before the HOR’s Committee on Justice on the impeachment complaints against the Vice President, the AMLC, through Buenaventura, said that the council had flagged nearly P6.8 billion worth of transactions from bank accounts linked to Vice Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio, from 2006 to 2025.

“Yes, there are suspicious transactions and covered transactions in our system, database, or record,” Buenaventura told the members of the committee.

Citing the AMLC’s summary report, Buenaventura said they identified 313 covered transaction reports (CTRs) and 17 suspicious transactions reports (STRs) from the Vice President's accounts, and 317 (CTRs) and 16 STRs from those of her husband.

Specifically, there were P3.77 billion worth of flagged transactions from the Vice President’s accounts and P2.99 billion from Carpio’s or a total of P6.77 billion, he also said.

Carpio said the respondents “criminally and feloniously publicly disclosed and unraveled without my consent and over my objection, for the world to see and hear for pure propaganda purposes, the alleged transaction reports of different banks for my and my wife VP Sara’s bank accounts from “2006 to 2025” or for 20 years, despite the fact that the VP Sara impeachment proceeding ought be for her oath as Vice President that commenced on 01 July 2022….”

He pointed out that the disclosure of the “transaction value” of the bank accounts was done “with evident intent to bloat and sensationalize for pure political propaganda and harassment.”

“Neither I nor my wife VP Sara has ever consented to the AMLC or any of its officers and staff to make public any transaction reports in relation to our bank accounts,” he also said in his complaint.

Carpio said that RA 9160 as amended by RA 11521, the AMLC and its secretariat “shall securely protect information received or processed and shall not reveal, in any manner, any information known to them by reason of their office.”

He pointed out that the AMLC law punishes breach of information security and confidentiality with a prison term ranging from three to eight years and a fine of not less than P500,000 but not more than P1 million.

He also said there is no exception provided by the AMLC law for the disclosure of bank transactions and reports. “Not even a supposed Subpoena Duces Tecum from the House Committee on Justice can amend, much less circumvent, this absolute prohibition and restriction,” he added.

On the alleged violation of the Bank Secrecy Law, Carpio cited that under Section 2 of the law “all deposits of whatever nature with banks or banking institutions in the Philippines including investments in bonds issued by the Government of the Philippines, its political subdivisions and its instrumentalities, are hereby considered as of an absolutely confidential nature and may not be examined, inquired or looked into by any person, government official, bureau or office, except upon written permission of the depositor, or in cases impeachment, or upon order of a competent court in cases of bribery or dereliction of duty of public officials, or in cases where the money deposited or invested is the subject matter of the litigation.”

Thus, he said, the disclosure of his and his wife’s bank transactions without his and his wife’s prior knowledge and consent is a violation of the law that imposes a penalty of not more than five years of imprisonment and a fine of not more than P20,000 or both.

On alleged violation of the Data Privacy Act, Carpio said that an unauthorized disclosure of sensitive personal information without the consent of the person is a violation of the law that imposes a prison term and a fine.

He stressed: “It is undisputable that the AMLC reports involving my and my wife VP Sara’s banking transactions are sensitive information that cannot be disclosed to anyone. Yet, respondents openly divulged these banking transaction reports in a public hearing before the House Committee on Justice. Crystal clear, respondents violated Section 32(b), Chapter VIII of RA 10173.”

At the same time, he said: “Complainant files this case in defense of the banking and financial system in general, and in defense of the Rule of Law and our judicial system.”