A House leader has pointed out a glaring disparity between the Anti-Money Laundering Council’s (AMLC) reported transactions involving Vice President Sara Z. Duterte and the net worth figures she declared in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).
At the continuation of the impeachment proceedings, Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon, chairman of the House committee on public accounts and a member of the House committee on justice, began contrasting figures from the report of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) with those in the VP’s SALN.
The issue surfaced after AMLC Executive Director Atty. Ronel Buenaventura read into the record portions of the council’s report on Duterte’s transactions.
Buenaventura first read the summary stating that “VP Sara’s accounts generated a total of 371 large transactions and 30 suspicious transactions from 13 October 2005 to 20 January 2026 with transaction amounts reaching as high as P55.158 million.”
He added that transactions involving other parties’ accounts in which Duterte was identified as “the beneficiary and or counterparty comprised 15 large transactions and 1 suspicious transaction.”
Buenaventura then read the broader historical summary: “A review of the AMLC database records shows a total of 417 transactions amounting to approximately P3.92 billion from 2005 to 2026, reflecting substantial financial activity over a long period.”
Buenaventura also described the pattern across the years.
“Transaction activity was relatively limited in the earliest years with only P1 transaction recorded in 2005, P540,000 before increasing significantly starting 2007 when transaction values surged to P208.15 million,” he said.
He added that “financial movements intensified between 2009 and 2013 with consistently high annual totals exceeding P400 million, including notable peaks in 2009, P704.93 million, 2010, P648.58 million, and 2011, P597.15 million.”
He said activity later moderated, before a modest uptick in 2024, followed by a decline in 2025 and early 2026.
According to AMLC, a total of P208,154,545.99 in transactions was conducted in connection with the Vice President in 2007.
Ridon immediately began contrasting that figure with Duterte’s SALN declarations, noting for the record that her 2007 net worth was only P7,250,497.
That contrast widened sharply in the years that followed. In 2008, the AMLC listed P46,801,376.27 in transactions, while Duterte’s declared SALN net worth stood at P18,493,616.65.
In 2009, the AMLC listed P704,928,792.32 in transactions against a declared net worth of P18,821,264.65. In 2010, it showed P648,582,662.40 against P16,242,886.65. In 2011, the table reflected P597,152,536.97 against P14,271,148.45. In 2012, it showed P407,875,524.23 against P22,116,101.93.
Using the figures flashed and read into the record, the differences were substantial. In 2007, the AMLC total exceeded the SALN net worth by P200,904,048.99.
In 2009, the gap reached P686,107,527.67. In 2010, it was P632,339,775.75. In 2011, it was P582,881,388.52. In those same years, the Council’s annual transaction totals ranged from 1,844 percent to more than 4,184 percent of Duterte’s declared SALN net worth.
The gap narrowed in later years but did not disappear. In 2016, the AMLC listed P46,407,353.81 in transactions, against a declared net worth of P34,895,997.00.
In 2017, it showed P46,391,903.32 against P44,828,759.00.
In 2018, the transaction amount of P48,717,694.84 was slightly lower than the declared net worth of P49,699,728.00. In 2019, the Council reported P60,231,229.77 in transactions, exceeding the declared net worth of P55,613,051.00.
In 2020, it listed P58,443,465.89 against P56,583,735.10. In 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, the annual transaction figures were below the declared net worth, but still reflected continuing financial activity.
What sharpened the comparison for Ridon was the SALN pattern from 2019 onward.
Earlier in the hearing, the Office of the Ombudsman confirmed, based on the submitted filings, that there was no line item for cash on hand or bank deposits in Duterte’s SALNs from 2019 to 2024.
Yet the AMLC historical trend still reflected P60.23 million in transactions in 2019, P58.44 million in 2020, P52.89 million in 2021, P41.67 million in 2022, P4.78 million in 2023, and P13.45 million in 2024.
When Deputy Speaker and Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin asked whether the figures being presented by the AMLC necessarily meant the funds passed through banks, Buenaventura answered, “Banks.”
Garin then asked whether the AMLC was sure of its data, given that the SALNs showed no cash on hand or cash deposits in the relevant years.
Buenaventura answered, “Sure po. This is based on records, Madam Chair.”
Ridon then shifted from total transactions to inflows.
Buenaventura read that the report showed “a total inflow of approximately P1.51 billion,” largely driven by “credit memo transactions amounting to P1.41 billion.”
Asked to read the annual inflow totals from 2006 to 2022, Buenaventura ended with “Grand total P1,514,599,312.22.”
Ridon then summarized the significance of that number in plain terms: “Ibig sabihin mo ba from 2006 to 2022, ito po yung pumasok na kapirahan sa account ni Vice President Sara, P1,500,000,000 over the course of these years. Tama po ba?”
Buenaventura replied, “Tama po.”
The AMLC official next took up investment-related activity. Buenaventura said the “grand total of inflow” for investment-related activities was “P327,888,459.67.”
Ridon then combined the figures into a single summary for the record.
“Pinapabanggit po natin ito for the record, Madam Chair, dahil kailangan po nating ibangga ito pong amounts na ito doon po sa P88,000,000 net worth ng ating pong pangalawang pangulo today, no? Ibabangga din po natin ito doon sa year-on-year na net worth ng ating pong pangalawang pangulo mula po noong 2007.”
He continued, “At makikita po natin dito na kahit mag-usap po tayo sa total transactions, mag-usap po tayo sa total inflows, kahit mag-usap po tayo doon sa total investment activities ng ating pong pangalawang pangulo on her transactions, hindi ho maibabangga doon po sa kabuan ng net worth na P88,000,000 at doon po sa mas maliit pa nga ng net worth in a previous reporting.”