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

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 provisions in laws on the confidentiality of bank transactions are not absolute because AMLC is not a passive institution to begin with.

“Section 8A [of the 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 safeguards,” 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.

Prior to the presiding officer’s ruling, defense counsel Mark Vinluan objected to the presentation of Buenaventura as a witness in the impeachment trial.

While he maintained that the Vice President is not hiding anything, Vinluan stressed that the data must undergo the proper verification process in accordance with the law, and should not be presented before the public in a manner that is malicious and intended to politicize.

He cited Section 8-A of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, as inserted by Republic Act No. 11521, saying that the AMLC and its Secretariat “shall securely protect information received or processed and shall not reveal, in any manner, any information known to them by reason of their office.”

Escudero said that the court agrees that Section 8-A must be considered, but it does not follow that AMLC reports “have thereby become absolutely immune from compulsory process.”

He said Section 9-C prohibited covered persons and their officers and employees from disclosing that a covered or suspicious transaction report was made, its contents or related information. But in Republic v. Sandiganbayan, he said the Supreme Court held that the prohibition applies to reporting institutions, not to the AMLC itself.

“Section 8-A is the new provision directly governing the AMLC and its Secretariat. It requires them to protect information received or processed and prohibits its unauthorized revelation. But its second paragraph expressly directs the AMLC to establish rules governing information exchange and dissemination, as well as access to such information,” the presiding officer said.

“The provision, therefore, regulates the manner and conditions of disclosure. It does not command absolute silence under every circumstance,” he added.

Escudero said Buenaventura may therefore identify, authenticate, and explain the report specified in the subpoena.

“This ruling does not authorize unrestricted public disclosure. Testimony shall be confined only to relevant matters and may, when necessary, be received in camera as the case may be. Either party may still object on grounds of authentication, relevance, hearsay, completeness, accuracy, admissibility, or evidentiary weight or the presence or absence of personal knowledge,” he said.

The AMLC’s mandate, as stated on its website, is 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.

Earlier during the hearing, Buenaventura said that his testimony and his submission of covered and suspicious transactions AMLC reports on the Vice President and her husband are all compliant with the law.

"Under our law. there's a provision Section 8A wherein we are supposed to ensure confidentiality over documents. However, under Section 8A paragraph 2, it is also stated that the AMLC can promulgate the rules regarding the handling [of information] to ensure that the AMLC and the secretariat will not violate that confidentiality part," Buenaventura said during the questioning of Escudero.

"Part of our internal rules is of course, we have to comply with the orders of competent authorities like the courts po and of course we recognize this Honorable [Senate impeachment] court as having the sole power to try and decide impeachment. This [disclosure] is, your honor, pursuant to the coercive and compulsory process of this court," he added.

The AMLC official was referring to the provision in the Constitution which states that the Senate "shall have the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment."

"We are in compliance with our internal rules the law and the order of this court," Buenaventura said. —AOL/RSJ, GMA News