Witness: Duterte did not declare cash on hand, in bank from 2019 to 2025

MANILA, Philippines — 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.

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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.

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READ: Ombudsman exec confirms Duterte’s SALNs from 2007 to 2024

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

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• 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

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• 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, wala pong nakadeclare na cash on hand or in bank,” Batu said after perusing copies of Duterte’s SALNs in court.

(For SALNs 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, there is no declaration of cash on hand or in bank)

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.

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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. /mr