VP spouse camp to media: Citing AMLC report violates law
The camp of lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio, husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, on Monday warned the media against publishing the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) report containing his bank records, saying it is prohibited under the law.
Other lawyers, however, said journalists enjoy “full constitutional protection” in doing so as it falls under protected speech.
In a press conference, Peter Paul Danao, legal counsel of Carpio, cited the amended provision of Section 14, paragraph (d) of Republic Act No. 9160, which said that “in the case of a breach of confidentiality that is published or reported by media, the responsible reporter, writer, president, publisher, manager and editor-in-chief shall be liable under this Act.”
“As a lawyer, I have to warn that, even under the AMLC, the media is being prohibited. You have to be careful in citing the AMLC report,” Danao said.
But he added that Carpio was not pressing charges against journalists who cited the AMLC report, saying “we know you’re doing your job only.”
“Attorney Mans … has no intention to file any case against the media. We’re just trying to caution you now—just be careful because if not us, then others might do it at some other time,” he told reporters.
Last week, Carpio filed criminal complaints against several government officials and lawmakers for the public disclosure of his “confidential bank records” during the April 22 House hearing.
The individuals facing complaints for alleged violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, Bank Secrecy Law, and Data Privacy Act include Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor and AMLC Chair Eli Remolona Jr., AMLC Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura, and Representatives Gerville Luistro (House committee on justice chair), Percival Cendaña, Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno, and Leila de Lima.
In filing the complaints, Danao said the law provided no exceptions for the AMLC to disclose information “in any manner” without a court order or the depositor’s consent.
‘Bloated’ figures
During the House impeachment hearing against the Vice President, Buenaventura testified that banks flagged 33 suspicious transactions and 630 covered dealings worth P6.7 billion involving Duterte and Carpio.
According to the AMLC report presented to the House justice panel, about P4.4 billion flowed into both of their accounts. Some P1.5 billion was transferred out, while around P791 million could not be classified as inflow or outflow.
But Danao said the bank figures mentioned were “bloated,” maintaining that Carpio “does not have that 6 billion amount.”
The claim that the Vice President and her husband have P6.7 billion in their bank accounts is a “lie,” he added.
The real figure could not be disclosed, he said, since Carpio is a private citizen.
“Attorney Carpio is not part of the impeachment proceedings. He is a private citizen, so he doesn’t want to be embroiled in this political circus, and, more importantly, disclose his private information,” Danao said.
“The exact amount—of course, he cannot divulge that, because that is private,” he added.
Constitutionally protected
The AMLC was summoned during the House justice panel hearing as one of the impeachment complaints against the Vice President cited allegations of unexplained wealth, command responsibility for the alleged misuse of public funds, and alleged “misdeclarations” in her statements of assets, liabilities and net worth.
Lawyer Michael Henry Yusingco, a nonresident research fellow at the Ateneo School of Government, disagreed with Danao’s warning to the media about reporting on the AMLC disclosures.
“Reporting on official and public proceedings, which includes all information revealed during these proceedings, is protected by the Constitution,” he said.
In the case of the AMLC testimony during the House justice panel hearing, “none of the information revealed there is privileged nor prohibited from being reported in the news.”
“[Journalists] reporting on these matters enjoy full constitutional protection and should not be deterred from reporting the truth which the public deserves to know,” Yusingco told the Inquirer. “It’s ill-advised to caution [journalists] from doing their job.”
On the other hand, lawyer Edre Olalia, chair of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, noted that it was the AMLC itself which “unclothed” the matter during a hearing, so reporting on it may already fall under “protected speech.”
“I am no expert on banking or financial laws or on laws on money laundering, but a cursory reading of the text of the law seems to contemplate acts or omissions, including public disclosure, only of covered institutions or persons, and not by the AMLC itself, and particularly if it was the AMLC itself that revealed it under oath during a legislative hearing,” Olalia told the Inquirer.
