Sara Duterte trial, Sept. 15: VP's net worth, business interests

MANILA, Philippines — Prosecutors zoomed in on key documents on Tuesday, Sept. 15, showing that Vice President Sara Duterte's declared net worth rose from P7.25 million in 2007 to P98.66 million in 2025. 

The records also show she declared no cash on hand or in the bank from 2019 onward.

Karen Batu, officer-in-charge of the Ombudsman's Central Records Division, read the figures from Duterte's Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs). On cross-examination, the defense had Batu confirm that SALN forms have no separate line for cash and no column for the acquisition cost of business interests. Batu also said her office does not verify the veracity of what officials declare.

Tuesday was the second day of evidence presentation under Article II, which accuses Duterte of amassing unexplained wealth, making false SALN declarations and keeping her business interests as vice president. 

Presiding Officer Sen. Chiz Escudero reiterated that SALNs filed before 2022 serve only as a baseline, since Duterte faces charges only for acts during her term.  

Here are the three highlights from today's proceedings.

1. Declared net worth rose; cash declarations stopped in 2019

Batu read Duterte's declared net worth based on her own SALNs. It was P7.25 million in 2007, P65,04 million in 2021, her last filed SALN before becoming vice president, and P98.66 million in 2025.

Batu said Duterte declared cash on hand and in bank in her SALNs from 2007 to 2012 and from 2016 to 2018, in amounts from P2 million to about P6.37 million. She said the 2019 and 2020 SALNs declared none. "For SALNs 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, no cash on hand or in bank was declared," Batu said.

Batu also read the business interests declared by Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio. The 2024 SALN lists 10, including Metro City Chow Foods Corp. and Gencorp Industries Inc., among others.

Asked who swore to the SALNs, Batu said, "The vice president herself."

2. Escudero, defense cite gaps in SALN form

Counsel to the prosecution James Bryan Ibrahim Alih argued that Section 8 of Republic Act 6713, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, requires personal property, including stocks, to be declared with its acquisition cost. "It has to be itemized," he said.

Under Escudero's questioning, Batu confirmed that the SALN form has no space for the acquisition cost of business interests. "You're correct in the law, but even if the official wanted to, where and how will he put it when we're supposed to fill out a prescribed form?" Escudero asked Alih.

Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said the missing values for the acquisition cost, could mean Duterte's declared net worth is understated. "Without concluding anything, yes, it can be a possibility," Alih said.

On cross-examination, defense lawyer Justin Nicol Gular had Batu confirm that the CSC's 1994, 2013, 2015 and 2025 forms have no separate cash line and no business acquisition-cost column. 

Asked about the 2025 rules, she said there was "no prohibition on lumping." Alih noted that the 2013 guidelines allow collective declaration for personal properties collectively acquired or of minimal value.

Alih told Sen. Risa Hontiveros, "I do not recall any law that would specifically say that it has to be separate." 

Earlier, Batu told Sen. Joel Villanueva that in her own experience, cash was declared separately even before the 2025 rules.

3. Ombudsman does not review SALN contents; no record of Duterte's 2013 exit SALN

Batu said her office, as repository, checks only that SALNs use the correct form and are signed, dated and paginated. "But the contents, your honor, we do not review," she told Sen. Erwin Tulfo. 

She said the Ombudsman's Field Investigation Office has no access to submitted SALNs unless it requests them for an investigation.

On cross, Batu said she has "no personal knowledge on the listed personal properties" beyond what the SALNs state. 

She agreed she is not competent to say whether Duterte's SALNs are irregular. Escudero had ruled earlier that Batu was "not testifying as to the truth of the content stated therein."

Batu said the Ombudsman has no record of Duterte's 2013 and 2014 SALNs, as relayed to them by its Mindanao office. "For 2013, she has no exit SALN," Batu said. 

Escudero noted that Duterte's term as Davao City mayor ended June 30, 2013.

Escudero said that as far as he knew, Duterte corrected her 2016 and 2019 SALNs by letter on minor matters. Batu said the Ombudsman's records show only one amendment, to the 2025 SALN, filed in June.

The court will hold no trial tomorrow, September 16. It will instead hear retired Chief Justices Artemio Panganiban and Reynato Puno and retired Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna on the 16-vote conviction threshold. Retired Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. submitted a written memorandum.

Testimony from Gerardo del Rosario of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on companies linked to Duterte and Carpio was moved to September 21 and 22.

Batu said the SALNs presented in court were redacted to hide the names of Duterte's minor children.