MANILA, Philippines — Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. on Thursday renewed his call for Vice President Sara Duterte to personally appear before the Senate impeachment court and answer allegations concerning her wealth, business interests and financial declarations.
In a press conference, the lawmaker stressed that only Duterte herself can directly answer the allegations against her.
“Let’s discuss this: There is a question regarding wealth that must be answered clearly,” he said in Filipino.
Abante, an endorser of one of the impeachment complaints against Duterte, said the debate over the court’s voting threshold should not overshadow the prosecution’s evidence under Article II, which concerns allegations of the vice president’s unexplained wealth.
He stressed that having wealth was not improper but Duterte should explain its source if it was alleged to be illegal or ill-gotten.
“There is nothing wrong with having wealth. The issue is—is it illegal? Is it ill-gotten wealth? That is what needs to be answered,” Abante said.
The prosecution has presented Duterte’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN), corporate records, and government procurement documents in support of its Article II case.
These include Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System records involving Gencorp Industries Inc., which Duterte declared as a business interest in her 2024 and 2025 SALNs.
PhilGEPS Division Chief Rendell Sopeña testified that government agencies awarded 49 contracts to Gencorp during Duterte’s term as vice president, including contracts from the Davao City government, PhilHealth Region XI and OWWA Region XI.
The prosecution is seeking to establish the relevance of these records to its unexplained wealth allegations, while the defense may challenge the evidence and present its own case.
Abante said some witnesses could not go beyond records in their custody because they lacked personal knowledge of Duterte’s financial affairs.
“That is why I say the Vice President should be present. Because she is the one with personal knowledge. She is the one who can answer all the allegations,” he said.
Trial resumes on Monday, with the prosecution team continuing its direct examination of Rendell Sopeña, division chief of PhilGEPS’ Information Security Division, who testified on procurement records involving Davao City Hall and GenCorp Industries Inc., a company allegedly co-owned by Duterte and which supposedly secured P35.9 million in government contracts after she was elected vice president.
Sub judice rule violation
Abante also asked the Senate Impeachment Court to determine whether remarks made by lawyer Paolo Panelo, spokesman for the vice president, violated its sub judice rule.
Abante made the call after Panelo alleged that some senator-judges manipulated the vote that led to the impeachment court’s new threshold ruling.
While acknowledging that Panelo was not part of Duterte’s defense team, the lawmaker pointed out that the lawyer was acting in an official capacity as the vice president’s mouthpiece.
“He might not be a member of the defense team, but he is officially the spokesman of the vice president,” Abante said in a press conference.
“Therefore, he is part of that. I believe the impeachment court should also look into what Atty. Panelo said, being a lawyer,” he added.
Abante further stated that Panelo’s position was relevant because his statements concerned matters “being considered by the impeachment court. “
The impeachment court voted 13–1, with six senator-judges not participating, to clarify that the constitutional phrase “all the Members of the Senate” refers to senators who are legally and factually able to participate at the time of judgment.
Panelo was quoted in media reports describing the ruling as “lokohan”, or "a joke," and questioning its fairness.
Abante said it was up to the impeachment court to determine whether the remarks constituted a sub judice violation.
“If the matter is truly sub judice—because he is speaking about issues related to the impeachment—he ought to be held accountable,” he said in Filipino.
“It wasn’t the prosecution team he was referring to. He was the one who said the senator-judges themselves were just fooling around.”
