Defense’s dare: Argue in court

As the defense prepares to take the floor on Monday, Vice President Sara Duterte’s legal team on Saturday challenged House prosecutors to prove their allegations in the impeachment court rather than through media interviews.

In a statement, Duterte’s spokesperson, Salvador Paolo A. Panelo Jr., accused private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan and her colleagues of disregarding due process and trying to sway public opinion through public briefings and media appearances.

The Senate reimposed a sub judice rule that bars both parties from discussing the merits of the impeachment charges outside the Senate court.

“The prosecution had its chance. It failed. On Monday, the Vice President begins her defense,” Panelo said.

Parallel worlds

“One world seeks the truth. The other desperately tries to persuade an increasingly skeptical public with asinine sound bites built on half-truths and malicious speculation,” Panelo added.

Kapunan earlier questioned the defense’s ability to counter the prosecution’s findings of at least P817.87 million in alleged unexplained wealth and undeclared assets of Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, from 2022 to 2025.

Kapunan said the defense’s initial list of 24 witnesses did not include anyone who could explain the financial discrepancies identified by the prosecution’s forensic accounting expert, Alexander Cabrera.

“We were confused by the 24 witnesses that the defense listed. Because the things that I said should be answered by the Vice President, they would not be able to answer,” Kapunan said in a press briefing.

“That should have been the purpose of their bank officials. To say that the balance that was shown was incorrect, not simply to say that we sent a letter that was left unanswered,” the veteran litigator added.

Impeachment Article II accuses Duterte of amassing unexplained wealth, failing to fully disclose her assets, and violating the constitutional prohibition against having business interests while in office. It is the only remaining impeachment charge after the prosecution withdrew the three other articles.

On Friday, the impeachment court admitted Duterte’s SALNs, bank records, tax documents, corporate filings, and property records as evidence on the Article II charge.

The defense had challenged the relevance and admissibility of several documents, including financial records that included Carpio, describing the prosecution’s evidence-gathering as a “fishing expedition.”

Explain assets, business interests

House prosecutors have challenged Vice President Duterte and her husband, Carpio, to explain under oath on the witness stand the hundreds of millions of pesos in financial transactions and alleged undisclosed assets presented in her impeachment trial.

Prosecution spokesperson Atty. Jay Tolosa said in a forum on Saturday that Duterte should personally account for the gap between the P98 million in wealth declared in her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) and the financial transactions presented by the prosecution.

“It would be best for the Vice President herself to explain since she was the one who signed her SALN in which she declared only P98 million,” Tolosa said in a radio interview.

He cited the testimony of forensic accountant Alexander Cabrera, the prosecution’s final witness, who estimated Duterte’s alleged unexplained wealth at P817.87 million, potentially reaching P1.5 billion under a broader computation.

Tolosa said Carpio should also explain assets registered under his name that prosecutors claim were not reflected in Duterte’s SALNs, as well as his alleged financial interests in companies that secured government contracts.

“There are many things we would like to ask Attorney Manases Carpio to explain,” Tolosa said.

Among these is GenCorp, which secured more than P30 million in government contracts from Davao City. Tolosa also cited Calle88, where Carpio reportedly holds a 47.5-percent stake.