Carpio lawyers denounce 'selective justice' in AMLC bank record disclosure

Key facts

• Lawyers for Atty. Manases Carpio called the House Committee on Justice's disclosure of AMLC records 'selective justice.'
• Atty. Neil Abayon said the committee deferred opening BIR tax records on April 29, inconsistent with its handling of AMLC data.
• Abayon argued the exposure of AMLC findings was a 'grave abuse of discretion' violating constitutional privacy rights.
• Atty. Peter Paul Danao said Carpio denies having P6.7 billion in transactions, calling the figure 'fake and a blatant lie.'
• to the Filipino slang 'Marites,' meaning rumor, as the council allegedly summed 20 years of transactions without explanation.
• Danao revealed that a social media-sourced portion of the report indicated BPI said 13 transactions totaling P2 billion were due to a system bug.
• from the committee despite requesting it since April 29.

Lede: Carpio camp accuses House panel of selective justice over AMLC leak

Lawyers for Atty. Manases Carpio, the husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, have accused the House Committee on Justice of practicing “selective justice” by publicly disclosing bank transaction records from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) while withholding other relevant documents. The allegations mark the latest escalation in a controversy that has thrust the couple’s finances into the national spotlight. Atty. Neil Abayon, a member of Carpio’s legal team, said the committee’s decision to defer the opening of a box containing tax records from the Bureau of Internal Revenue during its session on April 29 — while simultaneously releasing AMLC findings — revealed an inconsistent and biased approach. “When we talk about the issue of right to accountability versus the rights of private citizens, we have to remember that the rights of private citizens is also a constitutionally protected right under the bill of rights,” Abayon stated.

Core denial: P6.7 billion figure called a 'blatant lie'

Atty. Peter Paul Danao, another member of the legal team, delivered a forceful denial of the central claim in the AMLC report: that Carpio’s bank accounts showed transactions totaling P6.7 billion. Danao called the figure “fake and a blatant lie,” dismissing the report as mere rumor. Danao likened the AMLC’s methodology to the Filipino slang term “Marites,” used to refer to gossip or unverified information. He argued that the council had simply aggregated all transactions over a 20-year period without providing a clear breakdown of how the total was derived. “Iniwan lang nila sa ere na meron daw six billion, allegedly, pero hindi naman nila sinabi kung pano nila nakuha yun,” Danao said. (They just left the information that there was allegedly six billion in the accounts, yet they did not say where they got it.)

Bank glitch and missing evidence: The P2 billion discrepancy

Danao further revealed that a portion of the AMLC report, sourced from social media, indicated that the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) had attributed 13 transactions totaling P2 billion to a system bug. This suggests that a significant chunk of the alleged inflows may have been the result of a technical error rather than actual deposits. However, the Carpio camp has not yet confronted BPI directly to verify this claim. Danao noted that the legal team has not received a copy of the full from the House Committee on Justice, despite formally requesting it on April 29. Without access to the original document, the lawyers say they cannot fully assess the evidence against their client.

Constitutional rights vs. accountability: The legal argument

Abayon framed the dispute as a clash between the public’s right to hold officials accountable and the constitutional privacy rights of private citizens. He argued that the committee’s unilateral disclosure of AMLC data constituted a “grave abuse of discretion,” as it exposed confidential financial information without due process. “The burden of clarifying why the actions of the congress were not constitutional fell on the lawmakers themselves who should explain to the public,” Abayon said. The legal team insists that any pursuit of accountability must respect the Bill of Rights, which protects citizens from unwarranted intrusion into their private affairs.

Wider context: The House probe and the Duterte-Carpio finances

The controversy stems from an ongoing House inquiry into the wealth of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio. The AMLC report, which the committee made public, allegedly showed large sums moving through Carpio’s accounts, fueling accusations of hidden wealth. Carpio’s lawyers have consistently denied any wrongdoing, and the Vice President herself has dismissed the allegations as politically motivated. The April 29 session, during which the committee deferred opening BIR tax records, has become a flashpoint, with the Carpio camp accusing lawmakers of cherry-picking evidence to damage their reputation.

What comes next: Legal team demands transparency

The Carpio legal team is now pressing the House Committee on so they can mount a proper defense. Without it, they argue, the public is left with an incomplete and potentially misleading narrative. Danao warned that the misuse of bank data could have chilling effects on privacy rights. The lawyers have not ruled out legal action to compel the committee to provide the documents. As the standoff continues, the burden remains on lawmakers to justify their actions — or risk further accusations of selective justice.

The bottom line

• Carpio’s lawyers deny the P6.7 billion transaction figure, calling it a fabricated sum based on 20 years of aggregated data without proper context.
• A bank glitch at BPI may account for P2 billion of the alleged transactions, according to a social media-sourced portion of the AMLC report.
• The House Committee on Justice has not provided the despite a request made on April 29.
• The legal team argues that the committee’s disclosure violates constitutional privacy rights and amounts to selective justice.
• The controversy highlights the tension between government accountability and individual privacy in the Philippines.
• The Carpio camp has yet to confront system bug, pending receipt of the full AMLC report.