Jonathan Frederic De Santos

Former Land Bank of the Philippines-Shaw Boulevard Branch Manager Violeta Constantino and former Land Bank-DepEd Branch manager Nenita Camposano testify during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte at the Senate of the Philippines in Pasay City on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

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ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17853269216161785311192850witness.jpg.webp" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Former Land Bank of the Philippines-Shaw Boulevard Branch Manager Violeta Constantino and former Land Bank-DepEd Branch manager Nenita Camposano testify during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte at the Senate of the Philippines in Pasay City on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. <em>Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Land Bank of the Philippines officers on Wednesday testified that Vice President Sara Duterte&#x27;s staff took out P612.5 million in cash for her offices from 2022 to 2023, transactions that they said were out of the ordinary because of the amounts and because most large transactions are done by check or online.</p><p><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/29/vp-duterte-s-defense-sees-no-need-to-question-ex-bank-execs-1616">The defense declined to cross-examine</a> retired LBP Shaw Boulevard branch manager Violeta Constantino and Nenita Camposano — manager at the branch inside the Department of Education compound in Pasig City.</p><p>Senators, however, spent time quizzing the two over why the transactions were unusual, and whether these were necessarily suspicious or illegal.</p><p>Constantino told senators the withdrawal of P500 million in transactions of P125 million each from an Office of the Vice President account were the biggest cash transactions she had seen in more than 30 years working in a bank.</p><p>Camposano later said a withdrawal of P112.5 million in three encashments of P37.5 million each were unusual for DepEd, which typically withdraws around P10 million or lower for items like overtime pay. </p><p>They said transactions had the proper paperwork and that Duterte&#x27;s offices had informed the banks about them in advance so the cash was released.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/29/status-quo-presentation-of-evidence-observed-in-duterte-impeachment-trial-1431">Status quo presentation of evidence observed in Duterte impeachment trial</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;UNUSUAL, NOT ILLEGAL&#x27;</strong></div><p>Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, during questions to Constantino, said that &quot;just because it’s unusual it doesn’t mean it’s illegal or whatever&quot;.</p><p>The former bank manager agreed there was &quot;nothing illegal&quot; in the encashment.</p><p>She also told Sen. Joel Villanueva that if a depositor who doesn&#x27;t usually withdraw large amounts does so, she would consider that unusual.</p><p>She agreed that if a depositor makes a large withdrawal — of, for example, P135 million — four times in a row, that behavior could then be considered &quot;usual&quot;.</p><p>She said later that the average amount of cash withdrawals the branch handled was around P500,000, making the withdrawals of P125 million out of the ordinary.</p><p>Constantino added that since there were funds available and the withdrawals followed procedure, she considered them legitimate and not suspicious.</p><p>She also later told Sen. Risa Hontiveros that she cannot recall any other government agency dealing in that much cash.</p><p>Citing bank confidentiality laws, she declined to say whether the transactions were reported to the Anti-Money Laundering Council. She said only that Land Bank is &quot;compliant when it comes to reporting.&quot;</p><p>Under those rules, banks have to report &quot;covered&quot; transactions — those that are higher than P500,000 — and &quot;suspicious&quot; ones that deviate from the client&#x27;s profile or past transactions.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/29/tindig-pilipinas-calls-for-ethics-inquiry-over-spliced-video-on-pia-cayetano-s-fb-page-1656">Tindig Pilipinas calls for ethics inquiry over spliced video on Pia Cayetano’s FB page<br/></a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;UNUSUAL FOR DEPED&#x27;</strong></div><p>Camposano, who the prosecution presented after a short recess, made similar statements that the amounts were unusual.</p><p>Confronted with what Sen. Imee Marcos said were inconsistencies in her testimony at House hearings earlier in the year, Camposano said what she told lawmakers then was that the branch regularly handles private clients&#x27; large cash transactions but &quot;it was unusual for the Department of Education&quot;.</p><p>Sen. Robinhood Padilla then asked whether Camposano saw anything suspicious with the large transactions, to which she said she did not.</p><p>&quot;Ibig sabihin hindi po iligal?&quot; he pressed.</p><p>(That means it isn&#x27;t illegal?)</p><p>The bank officer said her responsibility is on cash encashment and agreed she saw nothing illegal about the transaction.</p><p>Cayetano later stressed that &quot;usual or unusual&quot; depends on the bank branch, saying also that not all agencies have confidential funds like the OVP and DepEd did.</p><p>&quot;Let’s help the public understand the difference between covered, suspicious and usual, unusual,&quot; he told Manila 3rd Distirct Rep. Joel Chua, a House prosecutor.</p><p>He said he wants to prevent people from making conclusions &quot;that are prejudicial&quot; to either party.</p>

<p>Senators spent time asking the former bank managers why the transactions were unusual, and whether these were necessarily suspicious or illegal.</p>

Senators spent time asking the former bank managers why the transactions were unusual, and whether these were necessarily suspicious or illegal.

WRAP: Bank officers quizzed on large cash withdrawals by Duterte’s offices

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WRAP: Bank officers quizzed on large cash withdrawals by Duterte’s offices

ABS-CBN News

Published July 29, 2026 10:08 PM PHT

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Land Bank of the Philippines

Violeta Constantino

Nenita Camposano

Sara Duterte

Impeachment

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