MANILA, Philippines — A Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) official admitted that the agency assumed Vice President Sara Duterte’s declared “other income” in 2024 and 2025 came from the practice of law, as the source of the earnings was not specified in her audited financial statements.
During the 37th day of Duterte’s impeachment trial on Friday, Defense lawyer Kristine Ferrer questioned BIR Office of the Commissioner Chief of Staff Anne Loraine Garcia-Marquez on whether the agency’s assumption was based on the vice president’s Certificates of Registration (COR) issued in 2006 and 2018.
Marquez acknowledged that the audited financial statements did not provide a breakdown identifying the source of Duterte’s other income.
She explained, however, that the BIR relied on the vice president’s most recent COR, which listed legal activities as her registered profession, in determining that the income declared in 2024 and 2025 also came from her law practice.
Marquez stressed that Duterte should have updated her COR if she had engaged in another profession or established a different business.
The exchange highlighted questions over the basis for attributing the vice president’s declared income to her legal practice, particularly for earnings recorded after she assumed public office.
The prosecution has presented BIR records as part of its examination of Duterte’s declared income and financial disclosures in the impeachment proceedings.
Earlier on Friday, prosecutors at the House of Representatives accused the defense of failing to challenge key evidence during cross-examination, with one lawmaker saying the defense was “being cooked in its own oil” as it struggled to explain the documents presented against its client.
Deputy Speaker Francisco Paolo Ortega V said the defense spent much of Thursday afternoon and Friday morning questioning a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) official without directly disputing the prosecution’s evidence.
“They are being cooked in their own oil because they cannot explain it properly,” Ortega said during a press briefing at the lunch recess of Duterte’s impeachment trial.
House prosecutor and Bukidnon 2nd District Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores likewise questioned the purpose of the defense’s line of questioning, saying it did not appear to establish how Duterte’s side would counter the prosecution’s case.
“The cross would be structured in a way that you would have an idea that, ‘Ah, okay, this is what they’re going to present.’ But once it was done, we still don’t know what their answer is,” Flores said.
The prosecutors’ criticism came as the defense questioned BIR procedures and registration records. Flores said the issue was not whether Duterte had properly updated her Certificate of Registration, but whether the income declared in the records came from a prohibited source while she was vice president.
A BIR Form 2316 attached to Duterte’s 2023 income tax return listed the Davao City government as her employer and reported P82,000 in compensation. Marquez confirmed the document during Thursday’s trial.
Flores said the defense had not challenged that portion of the records during cross-examination, while House prosecutor and 1-Rider Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez stressed that the income tax return was self-reported.
“The prosecution has presented numbers, and the cross, I failed to hear any number. It’s always about confidentiality or process of registration,” Gutierrez said.
The prosecutors also pointed to other documentary evidence, including bank records and statements of assets, liabilities and net worth, and said they expected the testimony of a forensic expert to provide a more detailed account of money flows.
