Rep. Terry Ridon —File photo by Grig C. Montegrande \| INQUIRER
MANILA, Philippines — The House prosecution panel is awaiting what it described as a “whale’s worth of evidence” against Vice President Sara Duterte after the Senate Impeachment Court granted its request to subpoena her financial records, Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said on Tuesday.
In a statement, Ridon said that the prosecution is not aiming for small fish or even a shark, but a whale in terms of the weight of evidence that may be used against the vice president.
“From today up to July 30, the prosecution will monitor to catch, not a fish nor a shark, but a whale’s worth of evidence — P6.7 Billion in total transactions. P4.4 Billion in inflows,” he said.
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According to the lawmaker, the total transactions flagged by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) can be used for the following purposes:
- aid for 1.6 million families
- fuel subsidies for 1.3 million public transport drivers
- hospital expenses of 1.9 million patients
- college scholarships for 893,000 students
“In other words — for almost 20 years, the movements that passed through the bank accounts of the Duterte-Carpio couple, were as big as government transactions. But who are they? Government officials, lawyers, people who have losing businesses, but they have transactions as big as the government,” he said, adding that such will be the summary of the article on unexplained wealth.
The AMLC’s report on transactions involving Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, first surfaced during the April 22 hearing of the House Committee on Justice.
This was when the committee on justice was discussing the two impeachment complaints against Duterte, particularly on allegations of unexplained wealth and alleged non-disclosure of assets in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).
During the said hearing, AMLC Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura admitted that they found covered and suspicious transactions made by the Duterte-Carpio couple.
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Buenaventura made the disclosure after Deputy Speaker Ferjenel Biron asked whether the AMLC had identified suspicious transactions involving Duterte and her relatives.
The AMLC official later clarified that covered transactions are bank transactions over P500,000, which banks report to the council, while suspicious transactions refer to those whose amounts are not determined, but were reported by banks because there is something questionable in terms of how funds were sourced.
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READ: AMLC confirms suspicious transactions made by Sara Duterte, kin
Later that day, Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima randomly picked 19 financial transactions mentioned in the sworn affidavit of former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV — a staunch Duterte critic who claimed to have obtained files pointing to the Vice President’s bank accounts that supposedly stored her unexplained wealth.
Eventually, Buenaventura confirmed that the 19 transactions randomly picked by de Lima from the affidavit appeared in the AMLC reports — lending support to Trillanes’ claims regarding the transactions.
READ: Trillanes vindicated: AMLC confirms Sara Duterte’s 18 transactions
The Senate Impeachment Court on Monday afternoon granted the House prosecution panel’s request to subpoena Duterte’s financial records.
The prosecution sought the records in connection with Article II of the Articles of Impeachment.
Ridon is the team leader for Article II.
Presiding Officer and Senator-judge Francis Escudero read the ruling, where the Senate Impeachment Court allowed the subpoena, save for a few companies where no immediate links to the Vice President were seen.
“The request for subpoenas directed to the concerned banking institutions, covering the accounts of the Respondent, Atty. Manases Carpio, separately or jointly, the partnership of Carpio Lawyers, and the nineteen listed corporate entities, is granted,” Escudero said.
“The banks are ordered to submit to the Clerk of Court the documents on July 30, 2026 at 9:00 AM with the attendance of the parties’ counsels,” he added.
The court said the records are prima facie relevant and material to Article II (unexplained wealth) and are not a “fishing expedition” because they are intended to establish a factual baseline for assessing whether Duterte’s assets and financial transactions during her term are disproportionate to her lawful income.
READ: Impeachment court grants subpoena for Duterte’s financial records
Furthermore, the court decided that the defense’s argument — that the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) is not protected from a court’s compulsory processes — is misplaced.
READ: Duterte impeachment trial: Senate junks bid vs AMLC report
After the trial, House prosecutor and Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno, who represented the prosecution panel during the oral arguments on the request for subpoena, said that the court’s decision is a victory for the Filipino people.
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Diokno said the Senate’s decision was a “well-reasoned ruling,” noting that what the prosecution merely wants is for them to see the whole truth./dp