PASAY CITY, Philippines — Senate President Pro Tempore Vicente “Tito” Sotto III questioned the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) on Tuesday, October 6, regarding a massive bank reporting error that allegedly overstated transactions in the account of attorney Mans Carpio, husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, by nearly ₱2 billion.
During the 34th day of the Senate impeachment trial, Sotto directed queries to AMLC Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura over initial filings from the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI). The initial submissions detailed 630 covered transaction reports and 33 suspicious transaction reports totaling ₱6.7 billion linked to Carpio’s account.
Sotto highlighted that approximately ₱2 billion of the reported figure was later attributed to a technical glitch, which was subsequently adjusted down to ₱2 million.
“Yung ₱2-billion, naging ₱2-million. Di ba? Ganun ang nangyari?” Sotto asked.
Buenaventura confirmed that BPI had formally submitted a request for correction, which the AMLC granted after conducting an audit to verify the discrepancies against bank records.
“We found po that there is and we granted the request,” Buenaventura said.
The senator-judge expressed skepticism regarding the sheer magnitude of the error, noting the rarity of multi-billion-peso glitches based on his personal experience with banking institutions.
“Kasi sa tagal na panahon na meron akong account sa bangko, iba-ibang bangko, ni minsan di ako nakaranas o na may kakilala man lang ako na naging bilyones eh dahil sa bank system glitch. Two billion? Tapos nangyayari ba talaga ito?” Sotto asked.
Buenaventura admitted he could not explain the technical cause of the error, though he confirmed it was the first instance of a reporting discrepancy on this scale during his tenure at the agency.
He noted that while financial institutions regularly apply to rectify minor reporting mistakes, 13 specific transaction reports were found erroneous in Carpio’s case.
When Sotto raised questions about how a system glitch could affect account balances and the issuance of manager’s checks, the AMLC chief reiterated that the agency’s primary function was to validate BPI’s request against its internal records rather than investigate the underlying technical mechanisms.
“So magkaiba po yung nakalagay. So we corrected po accordingly po,” Buenaventura said.
Regarding the timing of the rectification, Buenaventura testified that BPI formally submitted its request for correction on April 8. He added that he assumed his role as AMLC executive director shortly after, on April 14, and could not verify whether impeachment proceedings had already commenced when the request was filed.