Mans Carpio: Personal money used for flagged purchases, not public funds

MANILA, Philippines — Atty. Manases Carpio, the husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, said his flagged purchases were paid for with his personal funds and should not be attributed to public funds.

Carpio made the statement after financial forensic analyst Atty. Alexander Cabrera, a witness for the House prosecution panel, flagged what he described as “unusual banking behavior” during Duterte’s impeachment trial on Friday. The transactions included credit card purchases by the couple at a discount store in Japan, Nike outlets in Malaysia and a Davao City mall.

READ: From Donki to Nike: Analyst says VP had ‘unusual’ purchases in 2025

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“There is nothing illegal about spending my own hard-earned money. No public funds were used for these personal expenses,” Carpio said in a statement.

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“Vice President Sara Duterte had nothing to do with these expenditures and was not present when they were incurred,” he added.

The purchases included a meal at Ginza Inakaya Tokyo in Japan worth P200,007.29 on March 19, 2025; two transactions at a Nike store in a Davao City mall on Dec. 27, 2025, worth P93,750 and P205,392; and a purchase at a Nike store in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, worth P256,882.50.

Cabrera’s Table 25 reference, which was shown during the trial, showed purchases at two MEGA Don Quijote outlets in Japan, with transactions worth P62,900.95 and P65,877.64. 

Carpio said his personal expenses “should not be misrepresented as expenses of Vice President Sara Duterte or linked to her official functions.”

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He said he used his credit card to pay for expenses during a trip to Japan with a large group “since many of us did not have cash on hand at the time,” adding that “we shared the cost among ourselves.”

READ: Mans Carpio feels like ‘collateral damage’ in wife Sara Duterte’s trial

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He added that the Nike purchases in Davao City were also a “shared expense” intended for senior basketball players. The transactions at the Nike outlet in Malaysia, meanwhile, were for junior basketball players who won a championship game in that country, he said.

Carpio called for discussions about the expenditures to be based on facts.

Meanwhile, Carpio on Thursday described himself as “collateral damage” in the impeachment trial involving his wife, saying he was being dragged into political controversies.

“Pati ako, gidamay. Pastilan. Murag ako man gi-impeach da. Wala silay makita kang Sara ba, kaya murag collateral damage ko (I’m being dragged into this. My goodness. It’s as if I am the one being impeached. They can’t find anything at Sara, so it seems like I’m the collateral damage),” Carpio said during the launch of the Tabang, Respeto ug Panalipod sa Tanan and 1Bukidnon 4 Sara Duterte Movement headquarters in Bukidnon.

In response, Palace press officer Claire Castro on Saturday told Carpio to pray to the “true God” so that the truth would come out, “because many people are being blinded today.”

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Castro maintained that the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. would not cover up anomalies “whether they are relatives, friends, or allies.” /das