Abante: Sara Duterte’s frequent foreign trips belie ‘simple life’ image

MANILA, Philippines — While former President Rodrigo Duterte’s projected simple life may have been evident in his choices, a lawmaker does not think it is the same for his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, as she has been a frequent flyer visiting several countries in succession.

In a press briefing on Thursday, Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. was asked whether the impeachment trial of the vice president — now that the prosecution will shift towards proving allegations of unexplained wealth — will shatter the idea that Sara Duterte lives a simple life.

Abante in response said he never believed it to be the case.

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READ: Docs show VP Duterte’s net worth rose over 1,000% – Ridon 

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“Simpleng pamamuhay?  My goodness, you’re going out of the country, ilang bansa ang pinupuntahan mo, simpleng pamamuhay pa po ‘yon?  Ako nga hindi ako makapunta kahit saan eh, ‘di ba?  I mean, you, while the impeachment proceeding is going on, ano ginagawa po ng ating Vice President?” he asked.

(Simple lives?  My goodness, you’re going out of the country, how many countries have you visited?  I can’t even go anywhere I want, right?  I mean, you, while the impeachment proceeding is going on, what is the Vice President doing?)

“Sinasabi natin that she’s using her own money.  Okay, ‘yong kanyang sariling pera, kaya hindi simpleng pamumuhay ‘yan, kung talagang ginagamit niya ang kanyang sariling pera, hindi simpleng pamumuhay ‘yan ‘di ba?” he added.

READ: AMLC confirms suspicious transactions made by Sara Duterte, ki

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(We say that she’s using her own money.  Okay, that’s her own money, but that means she does not have a simple life, if she really used her own money, that’s not a simple life.)

Abante said it was more believable that the older Duterte, who has claimed that he prefers his old home in Davao City and to sleep under mosquito nets, lived a simple life.

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“Ang alam ko si President Digong, naka-kulambo, ang alam ko ang kanyang (Vice President) tatay parang simpleng pamumuhay sapagkat pinapakita do’n ‘yong kanyang ancestral house eh, maaaring ‘yon, ang kanyang tatay maaaring totoo na very simple ang buhay niya,” Abante said.

(I know President Digong who sleeps under a mosquito net, I know that her (Vice President) father seems to have a simple life as he was seen in their ancestral house, right?  Maybe it’s his father, maybe that’s true, that his life is simple.)

“Pero I do not know about Vice President Sara, I do not know about that.  Ako, hindi ako naniniwala na simple ang pamumuhay niya eh, with all of what’s happening right now, hindi po simple ang pamumuhay niya eh,” he added.

(But I do not know about Vice President Sara, I do not know about that.  For me, I don’t believe that she lives a simple life, with all of what’s happening right now, you cannot call that a simple life.)

In a separate statement, prosecution spokesperson and impeachment advisor Robert Ace Barbers said that the bank and tax records will “test” Vice President Duterte’s simple life image.

Article II deals with Duterte’s alleged unexplained wealth and her failure to properly state her true net worth in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth.

“Because yung iba, alam mo, yung kanilang projection ay simpleng pamumuhay, ’di ba? So ito yung malaking tanong ng mga kababayan natin: Totoo kaya ’yun?” House prosecution adviser and spokesperson Ace Barbers said in an interview with OneNews, which was included in the statement sent to reporters.

(Others, you know, project her as someone who lives a simple life, right?  So this is the question from our people: is that true?)

“Sinabi natin diyan na merong tagong yaman o hindi tamang pagkakapaliwanag ng kanyang yaman, no, na kanyang (hindi) idineklara sa SALN. And dahil ganyan, no, merong mga records na nanggaling mismo sa AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council), sa mga bangko na sinubpoena natin o sinubpoena ng prosecution, nang sa ganun ay mapatunayan na meron talagang tagong yaman ang ating Pangalawang Pangulo,” he added.

(But we are saying that she has hidden or unexplained wealth, which she did not declare in her SALN. And because of that, there are records from the AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council), from the bank records that the prosecution asked a subpoena for, which will prove that the Vice President really has hidden wealth.)

During the House committee on justice hearing on the two impeachment complaints against Duterte, Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon claimed that Duterte’s net worth is not proportionate to her salary, noting that her net worth rose by over 1,000 percent from 2008 to 2024.

Aside from the SALN issue, Ridon also pointed out that AMLC Executive Director Buenaventura confirmed that they saw covered and suspicious transactions made by Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, amounting to P6.7 billion.

This refers to P4.4 billion in inflows and P1.5 billion worth of outflows.

Early in the briefing, Ridon said that former Sandiganbayan presiding justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, Atty. Karen Batu of the Office of the Ombudsman’s Records Division, and Atty. Gerardo del Rosario of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will be the first witnesses for Article II.

According to Ridon, Cabotaje-Tang will be asked to testify about the principles governing public accountability and integrity.  Batu, meanwhile, will discuss the details of Duterte’s SALN.

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Del Rosario, on the other hand, will be asked to testify about the records concerning the businesses owned by Duterte that are registered with the SEC. /mr