Tolosa: Late access to Duterte’s financial records delayed withdrawal of impeachment articles

The House prosecution panel’s decision to withdraw three of the four articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte came only after prosecutors gained access to her financial records, a private prosecutor said.

Amid concerns over the timing of the move, private prosecutor Atty. Benjamin “Jay” Tolosa said the decision could not have been made at the start of the impeachment trial.

Tolosa explained that prosecutors were able to narrow the case to a single impeachment article only after examining Duterte’s bank accounts and tax records.

However, he said the documents were not immediately available to the prosecution, resulting in the decision being made only after it had presented its evidence on Articles I, II and IV.

“We have to explain, it was not possible to make that decision at the start,” Tolosa said. “Remember, these documents, we did not immediately get them.”

The private prosecutor recalled that the defense had attempted to block the release of the documents through a court-issued subpoena, arguing that their disclosure would violate Duterte’s rights and Philippine laws.

The objections prompted the court to hold oral arguments, during which both parties presented their positions on whether the financial records could be disclosed.

In a decision on 20 July, the Senate impeachment court partially granted the prosecution’s request for subpoenas covering bank accounts, tax records, Anti-Money Laundering Council reports and documents from 20 entities allegedly linked to Duterte and her husband, Atty. Manases “Mans” Carpio.

Despite the issuance of the subpoenas, Tolosa said it took time for the court to receive the requested documents before they were turned over to both parties for marking.

“We all saw the boxes of documents. That was only when we were able to study it,” he said.

Tolosa also cited the findings of forensic financial expert Atty. Alexander Cabrera, who reportedly found that Duterte and Carpio had unexplained wealth amounting to P817.87 million from 2022 to 2025.

“That was when the figure was very clearly explained by Atty. Cabrera said that it was between P817 [million] to P1.5 billion,” Tolosa said.

The disclosure came less than a week before the Senate resumes hearings on Duterte’s impeachment trial on 9 November, when her lawyers are expected to begin presenting counter-evidence on Article II.

On 12 October, prosecutors withdrew three of the four articles, saying their case on Duterte’s alleged unexplained wealth was sufficient to secure a conviction vote from senator-judges.

Senate impeachment court presiding officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero approved the move on the same day.