MANILA, Philippines — Two real estate properties in Davao allegedly purchased by Atty. Manases “Mans” Carpio were not included in the 2025 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) of his wife, Vice President Sara Duterte, according to testimonies presented at her impeachment trial.
The disclosures were made on Thursday, October 1, the 32nd day of the trial, after the House prosecution panel called two key witnesses: Davao City Register of Deeds IV Kathy Florence Baldonado and Island Garden City of Samal Deputy Register of Deeds III Marco Pineda.
Both testified regarding allegations of unexplained wealth detailed under Article II of the Articles of Impeachment against the Vice President.
During direct examination, Baldonado confirmed that Carpio purchased a 379-square-meter property in Barrio Matina, Davao City, for ₱6 million in 2024. However, the purchase does not appear on Duterte’s 2025 SALN.
Presiding officer Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero confirmed after reviewing the document that the property was missing from the declared real estate section.
“Based on the record I have, it’s not in the 2025 (SALN)—there’s nothing that matched the price and the place and the mode of acquisition that is indicated in the 2025 is construction and in the documents we have were deed of sale,” Escudero said.
“We did not find this particular property as one of the real properties declared because we checked it against all of the declarations of the Vice President,” Escudero added.
Defense counsel Atty. Lindon Bacquel countered that failing to recognize the property in the SALN would be “erroneous.”
He requested that the impeachment court take mandatory judicial notice of local geographical boundaries, pointing out that Matina Crossing is officially known as Barangay 74-A, a location Duterte listed in her declaration.
Escudero later noted that the property was difficult to locate because the locations listed on the SALN were “too generic.” He added that the declaration recorded a ₱10-million land sale in Barangay 76-A, Davao City, alongside a ₱2-million transaction in Dumoy, Davao City.
Discrepancies were also flagged regarding a second parcel of land in Matanos, Island Garden City of Samal, Davao del Norte. Pineda testified that registry records show Carpio acquired the property on March 15, 2018, for ₱3.453 million. Pineda noted that nothing in Duterte’s SALN “perfectly matches the DOAS (deed of absolute sale).”
Escudero examined Duterte’s 2019 SALN and pointed out that she declared two land purchases in Barangay Aundanao, Igacos—one valued at ₱2 million and another at ₱1 million.
Pineda noted that while those combined figures come close to the total amount paid by Carpio, the entry “does not match the deed of absolute sale.”
He added that registry records list only a single parcel of land under that title, “not two.”