Duterte defense faces uphill task rebutting unexplained wealth allegations — political analyst

Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense faces an uphill battle against allegations of unexplained wealth, with House prosecutors presenting a detailed paper trail of bank transactions, tax records and corporate dealings, political science analyst Dennis Coronacion said.

Coronacion, past president of the Philippine Political Science Association and chairman of the University of Santo Tomas Department of Political Science, said the volume of documentary evidence would make it difficult for Duterte’s lawyers to counter the prosecution’s case.

“Mahirap po kasi talagang detalyado at supported by documents, government records, private company records. Talagang matinding challenge po ’yan,” Coronacion said in a radio interview.

The prosecution presented forensic financial analyst Alexander Cabrera to consolidate and interpret financial information gathered from bank officials and representatives of government agencies, including the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cabrera presented a computation of P817.87 million in allegedly undeclared assets and income involving Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, from 2022 to 2025.

Coronacion said the defense would have to address not only the total amount but also the underlying transactions and the prosecution’s interpretation of the documents.

The defense could challenge Cabrera’s findings during cross-examination, including his methodology, his personal knowledge of the information he examined and the legal basis for accessing and disclosing confidential bank and tax records, Coronacion said.

The defense has raised concerns about the use of such documents, with lead counsel Sheila Sison questioning how the prosecution obtained access to confidential financial information.

“If subject for cross-examination na maaaring ang mga sasabihin at itatanong sa kanya para basagin ang kanyang testimonyo kung may personal knowledge siya sa mga information na ito,” said Coronacion.

“May ilang batas na sinasabi na bawal i-disclose ito, bawal i-disclose ’yan. So maaaring doon nakahinto ang pagbasag sa kanyang testimonyo,” he added.

However, he noted that the rules governing an impeachment court may differ from those applied in regular courts, particularly in the treatment of evidence and confidential records.

Defense may scrutinize individual transactions

Rather than deny the existence of financial records outright, Duterte’s lawyers could challenge individual transactions, amounts and calculations to contest the prosecution’s overall estimate.

The UST political science chair said the defense might attempt to reduce the amount attributed to the couple by scrutinizing each document and questioning how the prosecution interpreted particular transactions.

“Maaaring pwedeng gawin defense ng defense panel ay paliitin ang amounts by scrutinizing every document, every amount,” he said.

Coronacion said the existence of bank transactions or other financial records would not, by itself, settle whether the transactions established unexplained wealth. The defense could still dispute their interpretation and offer explanations for specific amounts.

Coronacion also pointed to discrepancies raised during the trial between declared business interests and corporate records filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He said the public would want to hear a credible explanation for these inconsistencies.

One possible explanation, he said, would be that the discrepancies were unintentional, although he acknowledged that the volume of alleged irregularities could make such a defense difficult to sustain without supporting evidence.

“Mahirap siya paniwalaan kasi sobrang dami ng mga irregularities. Pero tingnan natin, pakinggan natin ’yung defense,” he said.

Marital property rules may affect ownership claims

The property regime governing Duterte’s marriage to Carpio could also figure in disputes over asset ownership and disclosure, Coronacion said.

He said the applicable property rules could determine whether particular assets should be considered part of the couple’s property, but stressed that competing claims must be assessed against the evidence.

The defense’s position that certain assets or transactions belong to Carpio rather than Duterte would have to be evaluated under the applicable law and the circumstances surrounding each transaction.

Coronacion said the couple’s competing claims should not be accepted or dismissed based solely on subjective assertions.

“At the end of the day, ite-test po natin ang kanilang clashing claim or narrative basis sa mga lumalabas na ebidensya para maging objective po tayo. Susundan natin ang proseso sa korte,” he said.