House prosecutors on Thursday cited tax returns and audited financial statements filed by Vice President Sara Z. Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio, to question the growth of their wealth and discrepancies in cash declarations in Duterte’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs).
House impeachment team adviser and spokesperson Ace Barbers said the figures presented during Duterte’s Senate impeachment trial came from the couple’s own filings with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), not speculation by the prosecution.
“So sila mismo, hindi ito haka-haka mula sa prosecution because sila mismo ang nagdeklara nito sa kanilang BIR filings,” Barbers said during a post-trial press briefing.
BIR Commissioner Charlito Martin Mendoza’s chief of staff, Atty. Anne Loraine Garcia-Marquez, presented records showing that Duterte and Carpio reported a combined P85.34 million in after-tax income from 2007 to 2025.
Over the same period, Duterte’s declared net worth rose by P91.41 million, from P7.25 million in 2007 to P98.66 million in 2025, according to Barbers.
He said the increase exceeded the couple’s combined reported income by about P6.06 million, even before accounting for living expenses and other expenditures.
“Mas malaki ang yaman kaysa sa lahat ng kinita,” Barbers said.
Garcia-Marquez also confirmed that Duterte and Carpio signed statements acknowledging responsibility for the information in their 2025 tax returns and accompanying financial statements.
Barbers further questioned the absence of separate cash-on-hand and cash-in-bank entries in Duterte’s SALNs for 2022 to 2025, despite cash balances reported in the couple’s audited financial statements.
Those statements listed P21.23 million in cash on hand and in banks in 2022, P28.97 million in 2023, P15.53 million in 2024 and P13.8 million in 2025.
“Dalawa ’yung items na nawawala doon sa kanyang SALN: ’yung cash on hand at saka cash in bank. Malaking bagay ’yun,” Barbers said.
He rejected the defense’s explanation that the cash holdings were included under other personal properties, arguing that the amounts still did not reconcile with the financial records presented during the proceedings.
“Malinaw na merong willful and deliberate concealment of this material asset ng ating Pangalawang Pangulo dahil wala ito sa kanyang SALN,” he said.
The prosecution’s allegations form part of Article II of the impeachment complaint, which concerns alleged unexplained wealth and discrepancies in Duterte’s asset declarations. The figures and interpretations cited by Barbers are prosecution claims that remain subject to scrutiny in the impeachment proceedings.
Garcia-Marquez was scheduled to return to the witness stand on Friday, Oct. 9, for the continuation of her cross-examination.
Photo courtesy of PhilStar
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