Lawyer Atty. Paolo Panelo invoked a 2017 Anti-Money Laundering Council statement to challenge figures now being used by former senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV against Vice President Sara Duterte during the impeachment trials against her.
Panelo pointed to the AMLC statement issued in September 2017, during Trillanes’s allegations involving then-President Rody Duterte in which the agency said it is “not the source of the documents and information attached by Senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV in his Complaint.” The statement also said the Ombudsman had not verified the documents. It added that “the alleged deposits and credits representing outflows and inflows of funds were added together, thus, the resulting total amounts are wrong and misleading.”
Citing this, Panelo said the figures now being cited in the vice president’s impeachment case are “mali at mapanlinlang,” (wrong and misleading).
The issue is now at the center of the House Committee on Justice proceedings, where financial records are being examined following allegations raised by former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. His affidavit links Duterte and members of her family to a series of transactions, including joint accounts involving her husband Mans Carpio.
AMLC officials told the panel that 18 transactions cited in the affidavit matched entries in their records. They also noted 27 suspicious transaction reports filed from August 2024 to January 2026, while clarifying that the agency monitors reported transactions and does not determine ownership or liability.
Panelo, who serves as counsel for Duterte, called the proceedings a “political lynching” and said the hearing relied on “raw, decontextualized inflows and outflows” that could distort the value of transactions.
