During Week 11 of Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial the prosecution focused on Sara Duterte's unexplained wealth. The year-end annual Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net worth or SALN is the test for Sara's wealth.
| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1283975 |
Whether money remained in Vice President Sara Duterte’s bank accounts by Dec. 31 emerged Monday as a key issue in her unexplained wealth case, as a former Sandiganbayan chief drew a distinction between annual asset declarations and money that merely passed through an account.
On Day 24 of Duterte’s impeachment trial, former Sandiganbayan presiding justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang said funds deposited and withdrawn before the end of a calendar year would no longer have to appear as an asset in the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) filed the following year.
“No more, sir, because that asset or fund was no longer there as of Dec. 31 of that year,” Tang told presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero.
Tang, however, said such money movements could still become the subject of an Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) inquiry.
The distinction could figure prominently in Article II, where House prosecutors cite PHP6.77 billion in covered and suspicious transactions recorded by the AMLC involving Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, from 2006 to 2025.
AMLC records earlier presented to the House showed PHP3.77 billion in transactions linked to Duterte’s accounts and PHP2.99 billion to Carpio’s, covering 663 reports. The prosecution has juxtaposed these transactions with Duterte’s SALNs, which showed no declared cash on hand or cash in bank from 2019 to 2024.
Escudero’s questioning highlighted that the aggregate value of transactions over several years is not necessarily the same as the amount of wealth that should appear in a particular SALN.
Tang initially referred to assets held when a SALN is filed, but corrected herself after Escudero pointed out that the declaration covers assets and liabilities as of Dec. 31, even though the filing deadline is April 30.
Earlier, Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo posed a similar scenario involving PHP20 million to PHP50 million deposited in an official’s account and withdrawn after several days.
Tang said if the money was no longer in the account by the applicable SALN reporting date, it would not form part of the declared bank balance, but the transaction could still warrant examination by AMLC.
The Senate impeachment court will examine more than 1,800 bank, insurance and other financial records marked by the prosecution and defense for the unexplained wealth phase of the trial.
Article II also accuses Duterte of having wealth disproportionate to her lawful income, discrepancies in her SALNs and continued business interests while serving as Vice President.
Former Sandiganbayan presiding justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang testified that Sara only has to declare what is in her bank account at the end of the year. This is opposed to "money that merely passed through an account." The issue is that the AMLC flagged billions in transactions in Sara's accounts yet Sara declared she had no cash on hand which is a huge discrepancy. Where did those billions go?
Strangely enough Sara did not declare cash on hand between 2019-2025.
| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2305439/witness-duterte-did-not-declare-cash-on-hand-in-bank-from-2019-to-2025 |
Vice President Sara Duterte has not declared any cash on hand and in bank from the years 2019 to 2025 in her Statements of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs), a prosecution witness said Tuesday.
Officer-in-Charge of the Records Division from the Ombudsman’s office lawyer Karen Batu said this before the Senate sitting as an impeachment court on the 25th day of Duterte’s trial.
As the Ombudsman serves as the official repository for SALNs of all public officials, Batu was called to confirm the veracity of Duterte’s SALNs from 2007 to 2025, from when Duterte served as Davao City vice mayor and mayor to her current term as vice president of the Philippines.
During the direct examination of Batu as the prosecution’s second witness for Article II of the impeachment complaint against Duterte, counsel for the prosecutors Lawyer James Bryan Ibrahim Alih asked Batu about the cash declarations of Duterte.
Going year by year, Batu told Alih that the following were Duterte’s cash declarations:
Duterte’s 1st term as Davao City Vice Mayor
- 2007: 2,000,000
- 2008: 2,000,000
- 2009: 2,800,000
Duterte’s 1st term as Davao City Mayor
- 2010: 3,661,622
- 2011: 3,931,125.80
- 2012: 4,320,532
Duterte’s 2nd term as Davao City Mayor
- 2016: 3,750,760
- 2017: 6,368,596
- 2018: 3,795,000
Duterte’s 3rd term as Davao City Mayor
- 2019: No declaration
- 2020: No declaration
To expedite his examination, Alih then asked Batu to summarize what Duterte’s cash declaration was in the following years that Duterte filed her SALNs.
“For SALNs 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, there is no declaration of cash on hand or in bank,” Batu said after perusing copies of Duterte’s SALNs in court.
The same observations were made when Batu first confirmed the vice president’s SALNs during the House committee on justice’s clarificatory hearings as part of the impeachment proceedings against Duterte earlier this year.
There, Duterte’s 2007 to 2024 SALNs were first presented.
Under Article II of the impeachment complaint against Duterte, the prosecution accused Duterte of failing to “fully and truthfully disclose all her and her spouse’s assets, liabilities, and net worth” in her SALNs for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024.
The previous witness of the prosecution, Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, on Monday said in trial that per her understanding of the law, cash declarations should be listed separately in SALNs and not lumped into other personal properties.
How does one go from having 3.7 million pesos in the bank to nothing? Especially when your net worth rose by 1,260%!
| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2305483/sara-dutertes-net-worth-rose-by-p91-4-m-or-1260-witness-records-show |
Vice President Sara Duterte’s declared net worth rose by P91.4 million, or 1,260.7 percent, from 2007 to 2025, according to a witness’ records of Duterte’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) presented during her impeachment trial on Tuesday.
Lawyer Karen Batu, officer-in-charge of the Records Division of the Office of the Ombudsman, testified to the authenticity of Duterte’s SALNs from her time as Davao City vice mayor and mayor to her current term as vice president.
Batu had previously appeared before the House Committee on Justice’s clarificatory hearings, where she also confirmed the Ombudsman’s records of Duterte’s SALNs from 2007 to 2024, as the Ombudsman’s office serves as the repository for public officials’ SALNs.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, Batu again said Duterte’s declared net worth was P7,250,497 in her 2007 SALN, while her declared net worth was P88,512,370.22 in 2024.
Asked by the prosecution how much Duterte declared as her net worth in 2025 during direct examination, Batu said, “For the year 2025, the declared net worth of the vice president is P98,656,131.20.”
A person’s net worth is computed by subtracting their liabilities from their assets.
Duterte’s SALNs presented in court showed the following declared net worth figures:
Duterte’s first term as Davao City vice mayor
- 2007: P7,250,497
- 2008: P18,493,616.65
- 2009: P18,281,264.65
Duterte’s first term as Davao City mayor
- 2010: P16,242,886.65
- 2011: P14,271,148.45
- 2012: P22,116,101.93
Duterte’s second term as Davao City mayor
- 2016: P34,895,997
- 2017: P44,828,759
- 2018: P49,699,728
Duterte’s third term as Davao City mayor
- 2019: P55,613,051
- 2020: P56,583,735.10
- 2021: P65,308,841
Duterte’s term as vice president
- 2022: P71,658,841
- 2023: P77,508,841
- 2024: P88,512,370.22
- 2025: P98,656,131.20
The increase in Duterte’s declared net worth is among the matters being questioned by the prosecution under Article II of the Articles of Impeachment, which alleges that the difference between her declared net worth and the lawful income of Duterte and her spouse “clearly constitutes unexplained wealth.”
With Duterte’s 2025 net worth also presented on Tuesday, the prosecution noted an increase of P91.4 million, or 1,260.7 percent, in her declared net worth from 2007 to 2025.
The defense, however, questioned the relevance of presenting Duterte’s SALNs from her years as Davao City vice mayor and mayor, arguing that these periods predated her tenure as an impeachable official.
Presiding officer Senate President Chiz Escudero said the earlier SALNs could be presented to establish a baseline for Duterte’s net worth, but could not be used to introduce new charges against the vice president.
The defense questions presenting these figures but what they show is unexplained exponential growth. Where is her net worth concentrated? Real estate? Art? They do not say and this discrepancy is what does not pass the smell test.
This is just the beginning of the prosecution's presentation of Sara's unexplained wealth. Next week her SALN's will be compared with tax and bank records.
| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1284090 |
Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s wealth declarations will next be matched against tax, bank, corporate and other financial records as House prosecutors move deeper into the unexplained wealth case before the Senate impeachment court.
Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said Tuesday the presentation of Duterte’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) provided the reference point against which subsequent evidence would be tested.
“The presentation of all the SALNs is very important because this is what we will use to verify and match against all the other evidence moving forward,” Ridon said at a post-trial press conference.
He identified records from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and Philippine National Police Firearms Division among the evidence prosecutors intend to present.
Bank accounts and other financial instruments obtained through subpoenas will also be compared with the declarations, he said.
Ridon said prosecutors would pay particular attention to Duterte’s 2022 to 2025 SALNs covering her term as vice president.
Lawyer Karen Batu, officer-in-charge of the Office of the Ombudsman’s Central Records Division, testified on Duterte’s SALNs from 2007 to 2025 on Tuesday.
The records showed Duterte declaring PHP7.25 million in net worth in 2007, when she entered public office as Davao City vice mayor, and PHP98.66 million in 2025.
Ridon said the 2025 declaration was significant because it had not yet been available during the impeachment proceedings in the House.
“The 2025 version is the latest, because this wasn't present during the House proceedings. So, it was introduced here in this trial,” he said.
The prosecution’s objective is to see whether the figures declared in Duterte’s SALNs match those that emerge from her tax filings and other financial evidence.
Article II of the Articles of Impeachment accuses Duterte of unexplained wealth and false or incomplete asset declarations.
There were only two days of testimony this week. Wednesday was devoted to debating the voting threshold for impeachment. The constitution says:
No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.
There are 24 Senators which means 16 have to vote in favor of impeachment for Sara to be removed from office. However, there are currently three Senators unavailable. Two, Rodante and Marcoleta, are in jail and dela Rosa is on the run. The question is must the 2/3 vote include the three Senators who are not attending the trial. Must it be 14 or 16 votes? It is a strongly contested argument with good arguments on both sides. No doubt if Sara is convicted on anything less than 14 votes she will appeal to the Supreme Court. But this situation would not be in play if the Senate was not a corrupt institution.