NBI chief Matibag says land titles of alleged Sara properties declared in SALN

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National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag stood by the agency’s findings regarding properties being linked to Vice President Sara Duterte, calling her denial the “weakest form of argument.”

In a news conference, Matibag referred to the Vice President's statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) that supposedly contained the details of the properties' land titles.

GMA News Online is seeking comment from the office of Sara Duterte, but the Vice President on Tuesday denied owning the properties associated to her by the NBI, calling the move a kind of “public deception.”

“Yun po yung claim ng Vice President. Hindi kanila yung property, hindi ba? Ang tanong ko ngayon, bakit niyo po idineklara sa SALN? Bakit po nandirito sa SALN? At naka-describe po sa SALN yung TCT (transfer of certification of title)?" Matibag said in a news conference.

"So ang ginawa po namin, kumuha kami ng copy ng TCT sa, sa LRA (Land Registration Authority). At pinuntahan namin yung lugar base do sa description sa TCT," he added.

(The Vice President claims that the property is not theirs. How come it was declared in the SALN and the TCT is described in the SALN? What we did was get a copy of the TCT from the LRA, and we went to the location of the property based on the description in the TCT).

Matibag said that the NBI has also geotagged the area and interviewed several residents in the area.

“Siguro kung wala kang depensa, pinaka reason mo is general denial, which is the weakest form of argument under the rules of evidence,” Matibag said,

(Maybe if you have no defense, your leading reason is general denial, which is the weakest form of argument under the rules of evidence.)

The NBI is investigating allegations of "land banking" on the part of some members of the Duterte family, based on the affidavit of dismissed policeman Rodulfo Gracioso Jr.

Gracioso also claimed to have delivered bags of cash to the Vice President, her brother, Davao Rep. Paulo Duterte, and their father, then President Rodrigo Duterte.

Sara Duterte, in a news conference, presented evidence that Gracioso was lying about the supposed deliveries of cash allegedly from then Speaker Lord Allan Velasco of Marinduque.

Paulo Duterte and Velasco have also denied Gracioso's allegations.

Duterte’s alleged properties

Matibag said that Duterte declared two properties in Catigan, Davao City. The acquisition cost was P890,000, but the assessed value was actually P40 million to P60 million. The improvements to the property were also not declared .

Davao restaurant Prime Bistro, named under Duterte’s husband lawyer Manases Carpio, was also declared on the Vice President’s SALN. The acquisition cost was declared at P10 million but the assessed value was P82,000. The restaurant has a building that cost around P4.5 million, with the land value being P9.5 million, yet the declared acquisition cost was only P10 million.

Duterte’s SALN also listed a property in Don Bosco, Parañaque. The property’s market value on her SALN was P240,000, yet the acquisition cost was P2.2 million and the building was P461,760.

“But when we had it assessed by the assessor, it was P14,400,000,” Matibag said in Filipino.

There was also property listed in Aundanao, whose acquisition was P9 million, yet the real assessment was P19.5 million. Matibag said that there were also several undeclared improvements to the property. —NB, GMA News