Sara Duterte checks: AMLC records show Samuel Uy as purchaser

PASAY CITY — Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) records list two checks worth a combined PHP 14.88 million, with Vice President Sara Duterte as the recipient, AMLC Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura told the Senate impeachment court on Monday.

Buenaventura’s testimony on Day 33 of the trial also covered PHP 4.4 billion in flagged transactions involving the Vice President and her husband, lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio, a PHP 41 million single-day cash withdrawal by Carpio, and PHP 319.33 million in remittances from China to a firm linked to him.

The entry on the checks lists three purchasers: Samantha Jane Yenco Uy, Samuel Cang Uy, and Yaneile Yenku Uy.

Buenaventura read the entry from a confidential information-sharing document among those the AMLC submitted to the court. The checks are dated Oct. 25, 2011, and April 24, 2012.

“Yung last column po, purchaser of check, Samantha Jane Yenco Uy, Samuel Cang Uy, Yaneile Yenku Uy. Number of (transactions), 2. Date, 25 October 2011 and 24 April 2012. Amount, 14,881,692.14, your Honor. That’s what’s stated here in the record, Your Honor,” he said.

The name Samuel Uy also surfaced in recent claims by former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who has named a Samuel Uy — referred to in some reports as “Sammy” Uy — in allegations about payments to members of the Duterte family.

Nothing in the excerpts reported from the hearing establishes whether the Samuel Cang Uy in the AMLC records and the Uy named by Trillanes are the same person.

Responding to questions by private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia, Buenaventura also read from a confidential information-sharing document that described how former President Rodrigo Duterte, the Vice President’s father, had been involved in protecting and collaborating with alleged drug lords, “namely Michael Yang, Charlie Tan and Sammy Uy.”

The same document cites claims that Trillanes made at a previous House of Representatives hearing “on alleged suspicious billion worth of transfers into a joint bank account shared by (former President Duterte) with his daughter, VP Sara Duterte.”

Trillanes has separately alleged that the businessman sent payments totaling about PHP 181 million to several members of the Duterte family, including the former president, the Vice President, Rep. Paolo Duterte of Davao City’s 1st District, and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte.

Trillanes made the latest claims at an Oct. 2 news conference, after prosecutors dropped him as a witness.

PHP 41M withdrawal

Carpio withdrew or encashed PHP 41 million in a single day, Aug. 6, 2024, across six transactions, according to AMLC records presented Monday.

The records list PHP 15 million and PHP 8 million at BDO and four PNB withdrawals of PHP 5 million, PHP 5 million, PHP 3 million, and PHP 5 million, all in Davao City.

“Based on records po, Your Honor, the amounts are […] first is P15 million po, the second is P8 million. Yung may code naman po na magkaka-pares na CWDLO, yung over-the-counter withdrawals, P5 million po, P5 million, P3 million, and P5 million po, Your Honor,” Buenaventura said.

Buenaventura gave the total as “P41 million po, Your Honor,” and confirmed that all six transactions came from accounts owned by Carpio.

The first two transactions were check encashments and the other four were over-the-counter withdrawals, based on the transaction codes in the AMLC records.

The withdrawals came days after Trillanes filed a graft and smuggling complaint against Carpio and his brother-in-law, Paolo Duterte, over the 2017 PHP 6.4 billion shabu shipment.

Divinagracia pointed out that the Vice President’s 2024 statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) declared no cash.

The prosecution offered the withdrawals in support of Article II of the Articles of Impeachment, which alleges unexplained wealth and nondisclosure of assets.

The defense kept a continuing objection to evidence involving Carpio, arguing that he is not the impeachable officer. Escudero allowed the presentation to continue.

China remittances to Cale88

Cale88 Foods Corp., a banana chip maker that Trillanes has linked to Carpio, received PHP 319.33 million in inward remittances from China, according to the AMLC’s tabular summary.

“Aggregate amount po na nakalagay […] sa aming tabular summary po ay P319,326,770.41 po, Your Honor,” Buenaventura testified under direct examination by Divinagracia.

The figure matches the amount Trillanes cited at his Oct. 2 news conference, where he said companies based in China sent more than PHP 319 million to Cale88.

Trillanes has said Carpio held 47.5 percent of Cale88 before divesting as impeachment complaints against the Vice President gained traction.

Buenaventura identified remittances of PHP 5,662,519.97 through BPI Davao on April 30, 2022, from “China National Township”; PHP 5,662,935.23 through BPI on April 30, 2024; and PHP 5,655,530.52 through BPI on Oct. 31, 2024, from Jin Hua Dong Shi Trading Co. Ltd.

Reading the reason stated in a report on the remittances, Buenaventura said: “Yung una po ang nakalagay na reason for the report is, ‘There is no underlying legal or trade obligation, purpose, or economic justification.’”

Asked whether the transactions indicated money laundering, Buenaventura declined to draw a conclusion from the materials shown to him. “I only am testifying based on the records,” he said.

The defense objected to linking the Cale88 transactions to the Vice President, arguing that the prosecution had not established the connection.

The court has limited the presentation of corporate transactions to companies in which Duterte holds a shareholding, and it sustained an objection to aggregating the transactions of 15 corporations because her shareholdings differ among them.

The AMLC gave no figures on outflows from Cale88 because the prosecution’s request covered only inward remittances.

PHP 4.4B flagged

The AMLC recorded PHP 4.4 billion in covered and suspicious transactions involving Duterte and Carpio from 2007 to 2025, according to a summary the prosecution presented.

Covered transaction reports (CTRs) cover transactions above a set threshold. Suspicious transaction reports (STRs) may be filed regardless of amount when the circumstances raise suspicion. The summary lists 666 CTRs and 55 STRs.

Duterte accounted for PHP 3.73 billion across 373 CTRs and 34 STRs. Carpio accounted for PHP 749.92 million across 363 CTRs and 30 STRs.

To avoid double counting joint accounts, the AMLC deducted 70 CTRs, nine STRs, and PHP 81.88 million that appeared in the extracts of both spouses.

PHP million	CTRs / STRs	Total	Inflows	Outflows	Unclassified
Duterte	373 / 34	3,732.05	1,410.33	1,058.13	1,263.59
Carpio	363 / 30	749.92	220.03	249.99	279.91
Less joint-account overlap	−70 / −9	−81.88	—	—	−81.88
Combined (net)	666 / 55	4,400.09	1,630.35	1,308.12	1,461.61

Source: AMLC summary as read by Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura. Figures rounded; columns may not sum exactly.

The AMLC classed PHP 1.63 billion as inflows and PHP 1.31 billion as outflows. It could not classify PHP 1.46 billion as either.

Buenaventura stressed that the summary is not a complete accounting. “This will not be a mirror image … [of] the documents … on the audited financial statement of the corporations and/or the bank deposits,” he said.

The total is lower than the roughly PHP 6.7 billion presented at earlier House proceedings. A report on the testimony attributes the difference to one bank’s later correction of 13 reports.

Prosecutors also asked about large transactions on a BPI account that the AMLC records list as jointly owned by former President Rodrigo Duterte and the Vice President.

One was a PHP 9.11 million over-the-counter withdrawal at the Julia Vargas branch on April 8, 2013. Another was a transaction of USD 225,581.94, equal to PHP 9.79 million, on March 9, 2011.

“This account po is […] owned by former President Rodrigo Duterte [and] Vice President Sara Duterte, Your Honor,” Buenaventura said.

Shabu case reports

The prosecution also presented confidential AMLC information that the Vice President was the “subject of suspicion” in 27 confidential reports filed by covered entities with the AMLC from 2024 to 2026, citing suspected activities ranging from drug trafficking and related offenses to malversation of public funds and property.

Buenaventura confirmed that suspicious transaction reports had been filed on accounts of Duterte and Carpio in relation to a PHP 6.4 billion shabu smuggling case.

Asked about an STR dated Aug. 1, 2024, involving a Philippine Savings Bank account, Buenaventura said: “Your Honor, the reason po indicated here based on records is drug trafficking and related offenses.”

The AMLC chief then read into the record the narrative accompanying the STR, which cited news reports on the criminal complaint filed before the Department of Justice against Davao City Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte, Carpio, and eight others in connection with the 2017 shabu shipment.

“A criminal complaint for alleged importation of 602 kilos of shabu worth 6.4 billion in 2017 was filed against Carpio, Paolo Duterte and several others,” Buenaventura read from the transaction narrative.

Buenaventura later clarified that the covered institutions, not the AMLC, wrote the narrative accompanying the STR.

Escudero allows AMLC testimony

Presiding Officer Francis Escudero on Monday rejected the defense’s motion to disqualify Buenaventura, ruling that the impeachment court can summon AMLC reports.

“The Court agrees that Section 8-A [of the Anti-Money Laundering Act] must be considered. However, it does not follow that AMLC reports have thereby become absolutely immune from compulsory process,” Escudero said.

Escudero added that Section 9(c) of the law, which mandates confidentiality, applies to reporting institutions rather than the AMLC itself.

He cited a manifestation by Senator-Judge Ping Lacson on Day 32 that Section 2 of Republic Act No. 1405, the Bank Secrecy Law, “separately and expressly permits inquiry into bank deposits in cases of impeachment.”

“While this exception does not by itself dispose of the distinct confidentiality imposed on AMLC information, it confirms the policy that bank secrecy is not an absolute bar to the constitutional accountability process,” Escudero said.

Senator-Judge Joel Villanueva, who previously chaired the Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies, supported the ruling. “The confidentiality of bank deposits is an important policy of the state. But it has never been absolute, Mr. President,” he said.

Defense counsel Mark Vinluan had moved to disqualify Buenaventura under Section 8-A. “This prohibition is absolute and applies to Executive Director Atty. Ronel U. Buenaventura today and even after his separation from the AMLC,” Vinluan argued.

Escudero also dismissed the defense’s warning that Buenaventura could face criminal prosecution under Section 14(d) of the law. “Criminal liability attaches only to a prohibited disclosure,” he said. “Compliance with the lawful order subject to proper safeguards does not constitute, to the mind of the Court, such a breach.”