AMLC's Buenaventura allowed to testify on Sara Duterte, husband's bank records

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The Senate impeachment court on Monday allowed Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura to testify on the bank transactions of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio.

Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis Escudero said that existing provision on laws on confidentiality of bank transactions are not absolute because AMLC is not a passive institution to begin with.

“Section 8A [of Anti-Money Laundering law] protects AMLC information against leaks, indiscriminate publication, and other unauthorized disclosure. It cannot be construed to disable the AMLC from performing the very investigative and litigation functions that Congress simultaneously preserved, or from complying with the lawful and particularized subpoenas subject to judicial safeguard,” Escudero said.

“Thus, while Republic v. Sandiganbayan [Supreme Court decision] did not interpret the subsequently enacted Section 8A, the reliance on that circumstance is unavailing. The decision remains authoritative as to the unchanged Section 9C, and its central reasoning remains applicable. The AMLC is not a passive repository, and confidentiality cannot be invoked in a manner that defeats its statutory mandate,” he added.

The AMLC’s mandate, as stated on its website, to protect and preserve the integrity of the Philippine financial system “through financial intelligence and investigation, prosecution of money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation financing activities, ensuring compliance of covered persons with anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing and proliferation-financing laws, and extension of international cooperation.” —AOL, GMA News