House prosecution panel member Atty. Benjamin Tolosa Jr. pushed back on Monday, November 9, against the defense team’s characterization of their allegations regarding Vice President Sara Duterte’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) as “malicious and completely false.”
The objection was raised during the testimony of Davao City Assessor Jaime Adalin, who was presented as a witness by defense counsel Atty. Lindon Bacquel regarding property records.
Tolosa specifically contested the defense’s third offer of testimony, which claimed the allegation that Duterte failed to disclose a property covered by Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) No. 146-2024010775 was false.
“We also vehemently oppose that, especially their characterization that our position that the property covered by the TCT was not disclosed in the SALN was maliciously and completely false,” Tolosa said.
“We take the strongest exception to these accusations. It cannot be said that it is completely false because just a mere facial examination of those two documents would show that there are obvious discrepancies between the two,” he added.
Tolosa also objected to the defense’s second offer of testimony, which aimed to establish that the property under the TCT was indeed disclosed in Duterte’s SALNs, labeling the claim as “improper” and “misleading.”
“With respect to offer no. 2 that the testimony of this witness would supposedly establish that TCT was disclosed to the SALN of the Vice President, we object to that for being improper and misleading,” Tolosa stated.
“There’s no way that this witness can prove that property indicated in the SALN is the same property covered by the subject TCT,” he added.
The prosecution maintains that discrepancies between the TCT and the property details listed in the Vice President’s SALNs prevent the defense witness from conclusively linking the documents.