MANILA, Philippines — Private prosecutor Atty. Lorna Kapunan has strongly criticized Vice President Sara Duterte’s reported “Hindi ko alam” defense in her ongoing Senate impeachment trial, branding the legal stance as an act of bad faith.
Speaking at a press conference, Kapunan warned that allowing public officials to deflect accountability by pleading ignorance sets a dangerous precedent for addressing questionable financial transactions.
“Forty-eight years na akong lawyer, eh. Ang bagong defense na ’yan na hindi ko pa nakikita, ‘hindi ko alam’,” Kapunan said.
“Good faith? Hindi ’yan good faith. Bad faith ’yan, panggugulang ’yan,” she added.
According to Kapunan, high-ranking public servants cannot distance themselves from dubious monetary movements by claiming they were oblivious to how funds were handled.
To emphasize her point, she offered a hypothetical example involving a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary shifting blame onto an assistant for releasing millions in project funds.
“Pwede bang tanggapin mo na defense ng DPWH secretary na ’yan sa example ko? ‘Hindi ko alam. Ang nag-release niyan assistant ko’,” she noted.
The veteran lawyer stressed that impeachment functions fundamentally as an accountability mechanism designed to prevent the abuse of public office. She maintained that no public official should evade scrutiny using the excuse of ignorance.
The prosecution panel has continuously presented corporate filings, tax documents, and bank records challenging the vice president’s declared assets and income sources.
Central to their evidence is an evaluation by forensic financial analyst Alexander Cabrera, who estimated that Duterte and her husband, Atty. Manases “Mans” Carpio, accumulated at least ₱817.87 million in alleged undeclared assets between 2022 and 2025. Cabrera noted that this figure could scale up to ₱1.5 billion under a broader calculation incorporating additional discrepancies.
Article II remains the sole remaining impeachment charge against Duterte, focusing squarely on allegations of unexplained wealth.