Akbayan party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña said the Duterte family has increasingly turned to the courts whenever issues against them surface, following a criminal complaint filed by the husband of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Cendaña made the statement after lawyer Manases Carpio filed a criminal case related to the public disclosure of alleged covered and suspicious transactions reported by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) during impeachment proceedings.
According to Cendaña, members of the Duterte family frequently seek court intervention whenever they feel cornered or exposed in controversies.
He noted that the family has the financial resources to pursue legal action but questioned whether any member of the House Committee on Justice had violated the law in connection with the disclosures.
Cendaña maintained that no laws were broken, stressing that impeachment proceedings are exempt from the provisions of the bank secrecy law.
He said the exemption makes it lawful for information related to financial transactions to be presented during impeachment deliberations.
The lawmaker added that the issue surrounding the AMLC disclosures should not be used to derail the impeachment process.
Cendaña also issued a challenge to Vice President Sara Duterte, urging her to face the scheduled hearing of the House Committee on Justice on April 29 instead of relying on legal actions outside the proceedings.
The remarks come amid ongoing discussions related to impeachment proceedings involving the Vice President, where financial records have become part of the issues raised during hearings.
No further details were provided regarding the status of the criminal complaint filed by Carpio as of the latest briefing.
