VP told: Massive splurge for shoes; P200,000 Japan dinner not simple life

MANILA, Philippines — Being able to spend over P300,000 in a day to buy shoes and having a dinner in Tokyo, Japan, worth P200,000, are not the hallmarks of living a simple life, members of the prosecution team told Vice President Sara Duterte on Friday.

In a press briefing after Duterte’s impeachment trial, two prosecutors and two spokespersons for the panel said that the report and testimony of financial forensic analyst Atty. Alexander Cabrera has shattered the image of the Dutertes being relatable to a middle-income family.

The prosecution was referring to the “unusual banking behavior” flagged by Cabrera in his report, including a meal at Ginza Inakaya Tokyo in Japan worth P200,007.29 with a transaction date of March 19, 2025; and two transactions on December 27, 2025 with the Nike store at a Davao City mall worth P93,750.00 and P205,392.00.

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“Well, ’yong nakita natin na mga ebidensya shattered ’yong projection nila na sila ay merong simpleng buhay. Meron bang simpleng buhay na do’n sa undeclared pa lang ay P817 million na?” prosecution spokesperson Robert Ace Barbers asked.

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(Well, we saw that the evidence shattered their projection that they have a simple life. Can someone who has an undeclared wealth worth P817 million be deemed as someone simple?)

READ: VP Duterte’s total unexplained wealth at P817.87M – witness’ report

“Sa isang gastusan ng credit card ay P200,000 na? Hindi simpleng buhay ’yon ’no, so para sa akin, personally, nakita natin na itong pinapakitang pamumuhay ay in total contrast do’n sa nakita nating ebidensya,” he added.

(She can spend P200,000 in a single transaction using her credit card? That’s not a simple life, so for me, personally, we saw that this perception of a simple life is in total contrast with the evidence gathered.)

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READ: Analyst: VP Duterte didn’t declare P207-M cash, total assets reach P817M

Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said that no ordinary Filipino will buy shoes worth P200,000, as this is an activity indicative of excess income.

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“Na-pierce’yong veil ng kanilang pagpo-pose na they are relatable, that they are simpleng buhay, that they are identifiable to common middle-income Filipinos. Wala pong gumagamit at bibili ng P200,000 na sapatos kung hindi ito mayroong excess na pera,” Alonto Adiong, also a spokesperson for the prosecution, said.

(The veil of their position that they are relatable was pierced—that they have simple lives, that they are identifiable to common middle-income Filipinos. No one buys and uses P200,000 worth of shoes if one does not have an excess of money.)

“Kasi kung sapat naman po ’yong kanyang pera sa pangbuwanan, hindi ho kayo gagastos do’n. Hindi ho kayo kakain sa Japan, sa restaurant na more than P200,000 plus ang gagamitin. This actually is an indication that they have more money to maintain this type of lifestyle,” he added.

(Because if someone’s wealth is enough on a month-to-month basis, no one would spend that much. You would not dine in Japan, at a restaurant and spend more than P200,000. This actually is an indication that they have more money to maintain this type of lifestyle.)

Public prosecutor and Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said he did not know that Japanese food could be that expensive.

“Parang maganda pa lang mag-shopping sa Ginza, ano, umabot ng P200,000 ’yong shopping saka kain. So ngayon ko lang po nalaman na ‘yon po pala’ng mga tuna sashimi doon umaabot ng gano’n kalalaki, ‘yon pong California maki gano’n din po kamamahal, so ‘yon. Tingin ko po ‘yon ‘yong gusto ko lang hong sabihin sa bagay po na ito,” he said.

(It seems to be nice to be able to shop at Ginza, you can spend P200,000 on shopping and dining. Only today did I learn that the tuna sashimi there reaches that price, that the California maki is that expensive. I think that is the only thing I can say about this matter.)

“Again, gano’n pala ‘yong simpleng buhay (Again, that is what a simple life is),” he added.

Cabrera’s testimony came out after public prosecutor and Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno questioned the witness about Table 25 of his report, which listed the transactions made by Duterte using her credit card.

Aside from the transactions mentioned above, Duterte also appears to have gone shopping at two sites in Japan, particularly the MEGA Don Quijote outlets.

Don Quijote is a discount store chain in Japan offering a variety of items—from Japanese-made toiletries, toys, gadgets, souvenirs, and even food products.

Two transactions referred to the MEGA Don Quijote outlet in Shibuya, with one worth P62,900.95 and the other being P65,877.64.

Both transactions happened on December 8, 2025.

The other Don Quijote outlet that Duterte transacted with is in Aichi prefecture, specifically in Naka-ward. The transaction was recorded on July 20, 2025, and was worth P111,109.24

The total for all of Duterte’s unusual banking behavior listed in the exhibit was at P239,887.79.

Members and allies of the prosecution team have long doubted the simple life that is supposedly being portrayed by the vice president. In a press briefing last September 10, Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr.—one of the endorsers of the fourth impeachment complaint against Duterte—said that he does not think Duterte lives a simple life.

Abante said this may be true for Duterte’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, but the vice president’s frequent trips abroad betray such a notion.

In a separate statement on the same day, 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 (SALN).

Cabrera was brought to testify on the financial transactions of Duterte and Carpio. At the early part of his testimony, Cabrera claimed that Duterte did not declare the following cash amounts as part of her assets from 2022 to 2025:

• P60,214,776 for 2022
• P80,701,151 for 2023
• P23,169,077 for 2024
• P43,611,929 for 2025

Cabrera did not provide a total for the four figures, but a quick math would show that the sum is at P207,696,933.

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Aside from this, the table presented by Cabrera showed that the total undeclared amount from 2022 to 2025 was at P817,874,867. According to the witness, they were able to arrive at this number by matching the declared cash assets in Duterte’s SALN and the year-end balances of the bank accounts under Duterte, Carpio, and their joint bank accounts. /cb