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Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura, whom the prosecution presented as a witness in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, said he “cannot explain” the gap between the official's net worth and bank transactions. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News
MANILA — Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura, whom the prosecution presented as a witness in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, said he “cannot explain” the gap between the official's net worth and bank transactions.
Trial presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero told Buenaventura that the total net worth Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio, declared in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) from 2022 to 2025, covering her term as vice president, totaled P336 million.
This falls short of the P424 million combined inflow and outflow transactions, based on the summary of the covered transaction reports (CTR) and suspicious transaction reports (STRs) involving the couple the AMLC reported.
“On the assumption na walang ginastos mula sa lahat ng assets nila at lahat na dineposito sa bangko, hindi pa rin aabot sa ganto kalaking halaga,” Escudero said during the Tuesday trial.
“In the realm of possibilities, what would explain this huge amount?” he asked Buenaventura.
The witness initially explained that the transactions reported by the AMLC were made across the covered years, while SALN records an official’s net worth declared at year-end.
Buenaventura later said: “Hindi ko po maipaliwanag.”
Escudero said his team also added Duterte's net worths declared from 2007 to 2025, which totaled P840 million.
He said this number needs to be multiplied by five times to explain the P4.4 billion total bank transactions the AMLC reported for the same period.
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When asked for a reason behind this discrepancy, Buenaventura responded, “I am unable to explain or answer that, Your Honor. I just base on the records.”
The presiding officer noted that the Vice President has been receiving a monthly salary of P350,000 since 2022, which still would not explain the huge transactions made in her and her husband’s accounts.
Before this, Escudero also sought an explanation as to the difference between the inflow and outflow transactions of GenCorp Industries Inc., in which Duterte declared business interest in her SALNs.
Escudero said the company's outflow transactions reached P1.9 billion, while the inflow was at P1.06 billion.
Buenaventura said the discrepancy may be due to transactions not flagged as covered or suspicious, noting however that this is only one possibility.
A CTR is triggered when a transaction of P500,000 or more is made within one banking day, while an STR has no automatic monetary threshold and is filed when an account or transaction exhibits suspicious circumstances as defined under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Buenaventura’s testimony is part of the prosecution’s presentation in the second article of impeachment, which accuses Duterte of amassing unexplained wealth, committing Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth violations, and failing to divest from business interests. — With a report from Jaehwa Bernardo and Rowegie Abanto, ABS-CBN News
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