Prosecution: Sara Duterte, husband's undeclared assets not just an error

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Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband Manases Carpio's undeclared assets over the years are not just errors but a willful attempt to conceal information, the House prosecution panel said Thursday.

“This is willful and deliberate attempt to conceal material information, not just an error or an omission,” House prosecution panel adviser Ace Barbers said in a press conference.

“This is amounting to culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust,” he added.

The prosecution team said over 15 witnesses from banks and insurance firms testified that the Vice President and her husband recorded a range of P35 million to P71 million worth of bank deposits and investment insurance from 2022 to 2025 such as:

• P59 million in bank deposits, P35.2 million in investment insurance for 2022 (total of P94.2 million)
• P71.38 million in bank deposits, P35.9 million in investment insurance for 2023 (total of P107.28 million)
• P22.24 million in bank deposits, P59.6 million in investment insurance for 2024 (total of P81.84 million)
• P39.09 million in bank deposits, P54 million in investment insurance for 2025 (total of P93.9 million)

Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Adiong said that even if the prosecution will accept the argument of defense counsel Michael Poa that the cash in bank or on hand of the Vice President and her husband were listed under the “others” column in the SALN, the amount listed in “others” will still fall short of the amounts of the bank deposits and investment insurance under the names of the Vice President and her husband.

“They have a P59 million year-end balance in banks in 2022, plus a P35 million insurance. Compare that with P14 million under “others” in their SALN 2022; there’s P80 million undeclared or unexplained. In 2023, their year-end balance in banks is P71 million, plus P35 million investment insurance. Compare that with the “others” entry, which is just at P15 million; there’s still P91 million undeclared in SALN,” Adiong said.

“In 2024, they have P22 million pesos over all the accounts across eight banks, plus P59 million paid in insurance. Compare that with P22 million under “others”; you have P59 million remainder that is unexplained. In 2025, P39 million is the year-end balance in bank accounts, plus P54 million in insurance. They listed P30 million in “others” in SALN, so there’s P63 million still unaccounted for,” he added.

Private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa, Jr. said that such huge amounts of undeclared assets in multiple years are hard to ignore.

“Hindi lang isang beses na nangyari ito. Paulit-ulit na nangyari across several years. Nakikita natin ngayon ang magnitude ng amounts na pinaguusapan natin. I'm sure the senator judges will take that into consideration,” he said.

(This is not a one-time thing. It was a repeated act across several years. We see the magnitude of the situation.)

Poa earlier said taht Duterte has no cash on hand declared in her official SALN since 2019 because it was "lumped" under the “others” line item.

He added that the Vice President’s cash in bank and even jewelry were also “lumped” all together under that specific line item. —AOL, GMA News