Sara camp disputes scope of P817.87M wealth report

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 ₱817.87 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 can po (ang na-examine) pero very limited ’yong time, pero as much as we can, we did what we could with the bank accounts,” he said.

He also confirmed that he had not obtained documents directly from Duterte or Carpio or interviewed them, explaining that his team relied on materials furnished by the prosecution.

“Kung ano po ’yong naibigay lamang sa’min, ’yon lamang ang aming puwedeng pagbasehan,” Cabrera said.

The witness said his team had three weeks to examine subpoenaed bank records received in September. Work on the report, however, had begun in June, when they received other documents, including records from the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

Cabrera presented his report on Friday, estimating that Duterte and Carpio had ₱817.87 million in allegedly undeclared assets and income over the four-year period.

Asked whether the amount was an allegation in his report, Cabrera pushed back against the characterization.

“That is the results of my review. ’Yung allegations po ay walang basehan ang ibig sabihin,” he said, explaining that the figure reflected the results of 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 manager’s checks that the prosecution linked to efforts to reduce reported year-end bank balances.

The prosecution had characterized the transactions as “check kiting” or “tinikling,” alleging that the movement of funds affected balances relevant to Duterte’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).

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 previously flagged in his testimony.

The defense also challenged Cabrera’s examination of transactions involving Carpio, including credit-card purchases in Japan and Malaysia that the prosecution had cited as part of its scrutiny of the couple’s finances.

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 costs were later shared among the group.

“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.

During Monday’s questioning, Cabrera acknowledged that he did not know the context behind the credit-card transactions raised in his testimony.

Defense questions expertise

Ferrer also scrutinized Cabrera’s professional experience, asking whether he still considered himself an expert in forensic accounting despite spending most of his career in taxation and only about a year in external auditing.

Cabrera maintained that he did.

The defense further pointed out that he had never held public office, handled a graft or corruption case, or testified as an expert witness before an impeachment proceeding prior to the current trial.

Ferrer also confronted him with statements from organizations to which he belonged that had called for Duterte’s impeachment trial to proceed.

Cabrera was presented to consolidate financial information gathered from documents provided by the prosecution, including records concerning the couple’s assets, income and business interests.

His findings form part of Article II of the impeachment complaint, which accuses Duterte of accumulating unexplained wealth, failing to fully disclose her assets and failing to divest business interests while serving as vice president.

The House prosecution panel concluded its presentation of evidence on Friday, with Cabrera as its final witness on the wealth allegations.

Duterte faces three remaining articles of impeachment after prosecutors said they would no longer pursue the bribery charge before the Senate court. The other articles concern alleged misuse of confidential funds and grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family.