The House prosecution panel announced on Friday that it has obtained new evidence against Vice President Sara Duterte regarding allegations of unexplained wealth and the non-disclosure of assets in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).
Bicol Saro Party-list Representative Terry Ridon, the lead prosecutor for this specific article of impeachment, revealed in an online interview that the team discovered several personal properties owned by the Vice President that were excluded from her mandatory financial declarations.
These details were reportedly not presented during the initial House Committee on Justice proceedings.
While Ridon withheld specific details about the assets, he verified that they are documented in official government registries.
”Isa ho doon sa mga batayan noon pong unexplained wealth, yun pong non-disclosure noon pong mga pag-aari ng atin pong Pangalawang Pangulo at ng kanya pong asawa. So katulad po ng bank accounts, meron pong ilang mga pag-aari na hindi po na-disclose sa kanya pong Statement of Assets, Liabilities, Net Worth niya over the course of all the years,” Ridon stated. “I think this is of almost the same magnitude as the bank accounts.”
Ridon clarified that the undisclosed assets consist of personal rather than real estate properties, but emphasized that their collective value is significant.
”These are personal properties, these are not real properties. But ito po ay papasok pa rin doon sa milyon-milyong pisong halaga. Lalo’t higit hindi naman ito isa o dalawa lang kundi numerous pieces of property,” he said.
The lawmaker compared the omission to the historical impeachment case of former Chief Justice Renato Corona, who was removed from office over similar declaration failures.
”I think we’ll get a valuation expert for it pero nasa milyong-milyong piso pa rin po yung pinag-usapan natin dito. And bukod pa doon sa halaga po niya, I think the more important point would be its non-disclosure, non-statement in the SALNs of the Vice President. And to be clear, yan po yung isa sa naging batayan ng conviction ni dating Supreme Court (Chief) Justice Renato Corona,” he added.
To formally present the evidence, the prosecution panel intends to call forth new witnesses to verify the findings.
”The only additional witnesses will be the person who will authenticate and have a good sense on this new piece of evidence,” Ridon said, adding that they plan to secure authentications from government authorities and may subpoena private individuals involved in the transactions.
Addressing earlier statements from the Vice President’s defense team, which labeled the congressional scrutiny as a “fishing expedition,” Ridon expressed confidence that the new evidence will be deemed admissible once the case reaches the Senate Impeachment Court.
”Puwede pa rin naman. If it is going to serve the main basis for the Articles of Impeachment and what we seek to prove, pwede pa rin naman po yan. In fact, kahit po, even beyond the pre trial proceedings, pagka relevant and is something that is accepted by the Senate Impeachment Court, pwede rin pa rin po natin gawin po ito,” he concluded.