PASAY CITY, Philippines — The House prosecution panel argued that only Vice President Sara Duterte can clarify how ₱4.4 billion in covered and suspicious bank transactions linked to her and her husband, Atty. Manases “Mans” Carpio, align with her official Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs).
Lanao del Sur 1st District Representative Zia Alonto Adiong, serving as a spokesperson for the prosecution, issued the statement after Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, presiding over the impeachment court, contrasted figures from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) with Duterte’s declared wealth during Tuesday’s hearing, October 6.
Duterte has faced a Senate impeachment trial since July 6, with prosecutors spending recent weeks presenting evidence regarding her alleged unexplained wealth.
Across 35 trial days, including the session on Wednesday, October 7, the Vice President has not personally attended the proceedings, though Escudero previously noted she remains fully represented by her legal counsel.
Testimony from AMLC Secretariat Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura revealed that agency records logged a cumulative ₱4,400,089,940.70 in covered and suspicious transaction reports tied to Duterte, Carpio, or both between 2007 and 2025.
Escudero observed that simply totaling Duterte’s annual SALN figures over that same 18-year period yields roughly ₱840 million.
“Again, I bring it to its absurd point,” Escudero said. “We tried to add all of the amounts in the combined SALNs for the covered period of 2007 to 2025. It totaled only ₱840 million.”
The Senate President pointed out that the ₱4.4-billion transaction total exceeds the cumulative SALN figures by more than five times.
“So you would need five times—at least five times—the combined SALN from 2007 to 2025 to be able to explain the huge amount of ₱4.4 billion in transactions,” Escudero said.
Zooming in on the 2022–2025 window, Escudero noted AMLC records recorded ₱424,179,536.10 in financial activity for the couple, whereas Duterte’s four SALNs across those years totaled around ₱336 million.
However, Escudero conceded that summing up annual SALN declarations is not standard accounting practice since net worth rolls over rather than resetting to zero each year.
Buenaventura also clarified that transaction volumes differ fundamentally from declared assets.
“Yung asset po kasi hindi naman po siya iyong transaction,” the witness said.