BIR: LOA issued for tax audit involving VP Sara or husband

A tax examination involving either Vice President Sara Duterte or her husband, lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio has been authorized by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), which confirmed the issuance of a Letter of Authority but declined to say which spouse was covered or what the audit had found.

BIR official Atty. Anne Loraine C. Garcia-Marquez made the disclosure during Duterte’s Senate impeachment trial on Thursday after Presiding Officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero asked whether the agency had authorized a tax examination involving either spouse.

“In this case, did you issue a letter of authority against either the Vice President or her spouse?” Escudero asked.

“Yes, Your Honor,” Garcia-Marquez replied.

When Escudero asked when the authority was issued, Garcia-Marquez said she could confirm only the issuance of the LOA and not its details.

“But, Your Honor, if I may po, we can only state whether or not may na-issue na LOA. Not the details,” she said.

“But the details po, confidential po ito, so I cannot disclose it in this court,” she added.

Garcia-Marquez explained that the BIR needs an LOA before revenue officers can conduct an audit and examine a taxpayer’s books and other records to determine whether the correct taxes were paid.

“We have to issue a letter of authority to conduct audit to determine whether or not proper taxes are paid,” she testified.

P85.34M combined income

Earlier in the hearing, Garcia-Marquez testified that Duterte and Carpio reported a combined net income after taxes of P85,343,803.23 from 2007 to 2025, based on a summary prepared from their income tax returns.

Prosecution lawyer Erwin Matib asked Garcia-Marquez for the couple’s total income after taxes over the period. “Based po dito sa summary ang total po is P85,343,803.23 po,” she replied.

Matib then pointed to what he described as a difference between the couple’s combined net income after taxes and Duterte’s declared net worth of P98.66 million in her 2025 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).

Defense lawyer Kristine Ferrer objected to the comparison, arguing that Garcia-Marquez had no personal knowledge of the entries in Duterte’s SALN.

The court sided with the defense on the objection but did not strike Matib’s statement. Escudero instead reminded the prosecutor not to “testify for the witness.”

Net income and net worth are separate financial measures. Net income refers to income earned over a period after taxes and applicable deductions, while net worth represents the value of assets less liabilities at a particular point in time.

Cash balances decline after VP election

The prosecution also presented figures from the couple’s audited financial statements (AFS) submitted to the BIR, showing their cash on hand and in banks from 2022 to 2025.

The records showed a cash balance of P21.23 million as of Dec. 31, 2022, which increased to P28.97 million in 2023. But the balance then dropped to P15.53 million in 2024 and further declined to P13.80 million in 2025.

Garcia-Marquez stressed that the AFS figures were different from the net income figures reported in the couple’s tax returns.

The BIR official described the AFS as a set of financial statements verified by an independent certified public accountant, who checks whether the statements are “presented fairly and in accordance with the Philippine financial reporting standard.”

The BIR disclosure came as the House prosecution presented tax and financial records involving Duterte and Carpio under Article II of the impeachment complaint, which alleges, among others, that the vice president accumulated unexplained wealth and failed to fully and truthfully disclose her assets, liabilities and net worth.###