Bank record gaps haunt wealth probe
The defense of Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday challenged the completeness of a financial analyst’s examination of her wealth, highlighting gaps in the bank records he reviewed and questioning his professional qualifications, as the prosecution sought to establish allegations of P817.87 million in undeclared assets and income.
During cross-examination at the Senate impeachment trial, defense lawyer Kristine Ferrer pressed Alexander Cabrera, a lawyer and accountant presented as the prosecution’s final witness, on the limits of his report covering Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, from 2022 to 2025.
Cabrera acknowledged that his team had not examined all the couple’s bank documents, citing the limited time available.
“As much as we could with the very limited time, but we did as much as we could with the bank accounts,” he said in English and Filipino.
He also admitted that he did not obtain any documents directly from Duterte or Carpio or interview them, explaining that his team relied on materials furnished by the prosecution.
“What they gave us, that was all we could base our findings on,” Cabrera said.
The witness said his team had three weeks to examine the subpoenaed bank records received in September. However, they began working on the report in June when they received other documents, including records from the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
Cabrera presented his report to the court last Friday that estimated that Duterte and Carpio had P817.87 million in undeclared assets and income over the years 2022 to 2025.
Asked if the amount in his report was an allegation, Cabrera pushed back against the characterization.
“That is the result of my review. Allegations mean they have no basis,” he said, explaining that the figure resulted from his examination.
Checks, credit card transactions
Ferrer also questioned Cabrera about a joint bank account held by Duterte and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, and the manager’s checks that the prosecution linked to the alleged effort by the Vice President and her husband to reduce their reported year-end bank balances.
The prosecution had characterized the transactions as “check kiting” or “tinikling,” alleging that the movement of funds affected the balances relevant to Duterte’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.
Cabrera acknowledged that none of the applications for the manager’s checks bore Duterte’s signature.
The defense also challenged the interpretation of credit card transactions involving Carpio that Cabrera had flagged in his testimony.
The defense challenged Cabrera’s examination of credit card purchases made in Japan and Malaysia that the prosecution had cited as part of its scrutiny of the couple’s finances.
Carpio responds
In a statement on Sunday, Carpio said the questioned expenses were personal transactions paid for with his own money and were unrelated to Duterte or her official functions.
He explained that he used his credit card to settle expenses during a group trip to Japan because several people in the party did not have cash on hand. The group later shared the costs.
“These were personal expenditures made with my own money for specific purposes. They should not be misrepresented as expenses of Vice President Sara Duterte or linked to her official functions,” he said