Sara Duterte impeachment trial Day 38: VP dropped as witness; P1.5B 'unexplained wealth'

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Prosecution witness and Atty. Alex Cabrera marked the last day of the prosecution’s presentation of evidence by testifying that the unexplained wealth of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio, could reach as much as P1.5 billion.

Cabrera also said that the financial records of the Duterte-Carpio couple showed "symptoms of money laundering," citing P41 million and P55 million unused manager's checks under the joint account of the Vice President and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.

The unused manager's checks were eventually used as a payout to Mr. Duterte (P41 million) and businessman Sammy Uy (P16 million).

These amounts are on top of the P41 million over-the-counter withdrawal that Carpio made last August 6, 2024. This happened days after Sara Duterte quit as DepEd Secretary and a complaint was filed against Carpio in connection with his alleged involvement in the magnetic lifter that carried P6.4 billion worth of illegal drugs.

Senator-judge Joel Villanueva flagged the 2025 sale of stocks of Cale88 Foods Corporation, a declared asset of Carpio, to a certain firm that had only P84,000 worth of assets.

Defense lawyer Kristine Ferrer also explained that the hundreds of thousands of pesos spent on food and shoes made by Carpio in Japan and in Davao, were for groups of people and for their son's basketball team.

Cabrera also said that his forensic investigation on the financial records of the Vice President and her husband is based on the official government records provided by the prosecution. He added he did not have any document analyzed that was provided by the Vice President.

Defense team lead counsel Sheila Sison said Cabrera’s testimony should not be given weight since they were mere “unbridled and erroneous conclusions of law and fact.”

House prosecutor Chel Diokno of Akbayan party-list moved to strike Sison’s remarks off the record for being an irresponsible statement, if not “totally out of place and has no meaning.”

Escudero ruled that both Sison's and Diokno's remarks will remain on the record.

Before Sison, defense counsel Ferrer also asked Cabrera whether he was bothered by the punitive confidentiality clause of the Anti-Money Laundering Law.

Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo asked the prosecution panel to check whether the subject properties of the Duterte-Carpio couple as announced by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are part of the undeclared assets of the Vice President and her husband.

As Cabrera wrapped up his testimony, the prosecution also decided not to field Sara Duterte as a hostile witness anymore.

Private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan said that given that previous hostile witnesses from the Office of the Vice President merely said they don’t know or are unaware of the allegations, it is likely that the Vice President will resort to the same tactic.

Meanwhile, the House prosecution panel remained unfazed amid the latest Pulse Asia poll survey showing Sara Duterte leading by a mile over her potential rivals in the 2028 presidential elections.

“Assuming that the results are accurate and people trust her, all the more that she should be held accountable, and that is through evidence," private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa, Jr. said in a press conference. —LDF, GMA News