Vice President Sara Duterte went on the attack Thursday, rejecting allegations that she and her husband had billions of pesos moving through their bank accounts and calling out former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, the Commission on Audit (COA), and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) for giving fresh life to the issue. In a lengthy statement, Duterte said Trillanes was simply recycling an old story—only this time, she claimed, he now had government bodies helping carry the narrative.
The latest clash came after Trillanes testified before the House justice committee, saying he went public after verifying an informant’s claims about the couple’s bank transactions. The AMLC later reported to the panel that the Duterte-Carpio accounts had over 600 transactions amounting to about P6.7 billion, with 33 dealings flagged as suspicious. COA findings were also brought into the impeachment proceedings, including P448 million in disallowed confidential fund spending tied to the Office of the Vice President.
Duterte flatly denied wrongdoing and insisted her money and properties all came from legitimate and documented sources, saying everything was properly declared in her SALN. She accused COA of releasing reports at politically convenient times and slammed AMLC officials for, in her view, failing to make clear that there had been no finding of anti-money laundering violations. She also broadened her attack, saying the impeachment push was being driven not just by Trillanes, but also by allies of President Marcos and House members she branded as “law-benders.”
But inside the House, the pressure is clearly building. Justice committee chair Rep. Gerville Luistro said the panel is set to wrap up discussions on April 29 and vote on whether there is probable cause to move the case forward. Some lawmakers say that threshold has already been met, meaning the issue may soon shift from noisy committee hearings to the much bigger political fight of whether the impeachment case should advance to the Senate for trial.
Image from Inday Sara Duterte FB