VP Sara husband testimony could shed light on Duterte wealth — Barbers

The potential testimony of Atty. Manases Carpio, the husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, could provide “vital” insight into their alleged unexplained wealth, which has become one of the issues in the ongoing impeachment trial at the Senate, a former lawmaker said.

House trial spokesperson Robert Ace Barbers said Carpio, who was repeatedly mentioned during the clarificatory hearings conducted by the House Committee on Justice, could supplement the prosecution panel’s case against his wife.

“For me, this will add vital information or it will support our allegations. According to the law, a couple shares ownership of their assets and their funds, this is what we call conjugal,” Barbers explained in a radio interview.

“Whatever assets Atty. Mans Carpio has is also owned by Vice President Sara Duterte. Atty. Mans Carpio is not covered by the right against self-incrimination so he may be called. And me, personally, I think it will add information to support the allegations,” he said.

During the Justice panel proceedings, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) presented its findings on P6.7 billion in suspicious and covered transactions recorded in the bank accounts of the Duterte-Carpio couple from 2006 to 2025.

Of the amount, P3.77 billion was tracked across Duterte’s accounts, while the remaining P2.99 billion was logged in Carpio’s bank accounts.

The AMLC tracks covered transactions based on cash inflows or outflows exceeding P500,000 within a single banking day.

Suspicious transactions, on the other hand, are amounts that may not surpass the threshold but are flagged if they are found to involve specific circumstances, including attempts to avoid the council’s reporting requirements.

Following the release of the reports, Carpio went to the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office to file a complaint against lawmakers who participated in the committee proceedings and officials from the AMLC, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and other government agencies.

The lawyer argued that the disclosure violated a provision of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), which supposedly prohibits the AMLC from disclosing its findings.

Carpio’s argument rested on Section 9 of the AMLA, which prohibits employees of the council from disclosing the fact that a covered transaction was made to “any person, entity, the media.”

The prosecutor’s office, however, dismissed the case on 7 September, saying it had no jurisdiction over the matter.

Atty. Peter Paul Danao, a member of Carpio’s legal team, said the ruling was not a determination of the merits of the case, adding that they could still refile the complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman.

As for Duterte’s trial, the proceedings are set to shift to discussions on her alleged hidden wealth, which will involve voluminous financial records that Barbers said contradicted the amounts stated in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.

The witnesses for the coming week are retired Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, Ombudsman Records Division Officer-in-Charge Atty. Karen Batu, and Securities and Exchange Commission official Atty. Gerardo del Rosario.

The trial spokesperson said the witnesses the panel will call to testify are meant to validate the documents they will present.

“The testimonies of our witnesses are important because they would authenticate what happened in the financial records of our Vice President,” he said.

The Senate will begin hearings on Duterte’s unexplained wealth on Monday, 14 September.