VP Sara Duterte's Husband Files Complaints vs Lawmakers Over Bank Records Disclosure

Atty. Manases 'Mans' Carpio, husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, has filed multiple complaints against House justice committee members over alleged violations of several laws due to the disclosure of his and the Vice President's bank transaction records. Carpio’s legal representatives filed the complaints alleging violations of the Anti-Money Laundering Law, Bank Secrecy Law, and the Data Privacy Act of 2012 before the Quezon City Prosecutors Office. The exact filing date of the supplemental complaint remains unclear, but it became public knowledge on Friday as the respondents submitted their counter-affidavits. Carpio had previously sued House justice panel chairperson Gerville Luistro of Batangas, House Senior Deputy Minority Leader Leila de Lima of ML party-list, and House Assistant Minority Leader Chel Diokno of Akbayan party-list for similar alleged offenses. Manila 3rd District Representative Joel Chua, one of the public prosecutors in the ongoing impeachment trial of Duterte, criticized Carpio’s move as mere harassment amid the impeachment proceedings. "This marks the first time that a complaint is filed against someone for not opposing the disclosure of bank transactions and making a manifestation. So I would say this complaint is unusual. How is that a criminal act? Of course, we are unfazed amid this kind of harassment," Chua stated. House Deputy Minority Leader Antonio Tinio, also a respondent, described Carpio’s maneuver as a sign of desperation. "This is pure harassment and a desperate attempt by Mans Carpio and the Vice President to cover up the truth. Unfortunately for the Vice President, the AMLC and bank records are already with the Senate impeachment court. So the day is getting nearer when the whole truth regarding the P6.7 billion transaction and undeclared wealth of the Vice President will come out," Tinio added. Kabataan Party-list Representative Renee Co, another member of the House prosecution team, echoed the sentiment, calling the complaints diversionary tactics. "This is not just harassment. These are delaying tactics to stop the truth from coming out. At the end of the day, it is the Vice President who has to answer this question: Where did you spend the confidential funds which are public funds?" Co remarked. The Articles of Impeachment approved by the House for Senate action accuse the Vice President of culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, bribery, and other high crimes. These include the systematic misuse, misappropriation, and irregular liquidation of confidential funds amounting to P500 million released to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and P112.5 million released to the Department of Education (DepEd) during her tenure as Education chief; amassing unexplained wealth manifestly disproportionate to her lawful income and earnings during her incumbency as a public official; failure to fully and truthfully disclose all her and her spouse's assets, liabilities, and net worth in her statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) including in her SALN for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024; failure to divest, and instead, willfully continued, all her business interests during her tenure as vice president for the years 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025; giving monetary gifts or payments to DepEd officials to induce the violation and circumvention of procurement and other related laws; and contracting for the assassination of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and former Speaker of the House and Leyte Representative Martin Romualdez, by making grave threats, and by actively inciting sedition against the republic. Items a, e and f constitute Articles 1, 3 and 4, while items b, c and d are all subsections of Article 2 of the Articles of Impeachment. The Vice President has maintained that the impeachment case against her should be dismissed for lack of evidence, and that her supposed threat to kill Marcos and his family members are just part of her right to freedom of expression. —KG, GMA News