Atty. Mans Carpio, husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, issued a strong rebuttal on Monday through his legal team, dismissing allegations of ₱6.7 billion in suspicious bank transactions as fabricated.
At a May 4 press conference, Carpio’s lead counsel, Atty. Peter Paul Danao, described the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) report presented to a House panel as a “blatant lie.”
He argued that the multi-billion peso figure was a misleading aggregation of transaction values over time, not a reflection of Carpio’s net worth or holdings.
“Atty. Carpio said that the ₱6 billion is fake and a lie. Wala siyang ganoong pera. It is fake and a blatant lie—kumbaga sa Tagalog… Marites po ’yan, tsismis. Dahil ang ginawa po ng AMLC, sinasabi nila transaction value, so yung total amount ng mga transaction, in-add nila.”
The legal team warned that the figure was “bloated” and linked its disclosure to the ongoing impeachment proceedings against the Vice President, calling it a “selective” application of the law.
Atty. Neil Abayon joined Danao in raising concerns over violations of financial privacy and due process.
Danao further cautioned that exposing confidential banking data could erode public trust in the financial system.
“Dagok po ito sa industriya ng bangko. Paano pa tayong mga mahirap?”
The lawyers also urged the media to exercise caution in publishing AMLC data, citing Republic Act No. 9160 (Anti-Money Laundering Act), which penalizes unauthorized disclosure of financial information.
While Carpio’s camp clarified they have no plans to sue journalists, they issued a warning.
“Atty. Mans has not and has no intention of filing any case against the media because we know that you’re only doing your job, but we’re just trying to caution you. Medyo maghinay-hinay po tayo… kung hindi kami, baka yung iba.”