MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte’s declared assets from 2022 to 2025 totaled about P336 million, still below the P424 million in combined inflows and outflows recorded in the bank accounts of Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, over the same period, Senate Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero said Tuesday.
Escudero said he arrived at the P336 million figure after adding Duterte’s declared assets in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) for the four years, while acknowledging that such a calculation is not ordinarily appropriate because SALNs cover different reporting periods and later declarations may already include previously declared assets.
“I tried to bring things into absurd possibility to find out and test a hypothesis. I added the SALN of the vice president from 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025,” Escudero said during the impeachment trial.
He acknowledged that adding SALNs across different years is not ordinarily appropriate because each declaration covers a specific reporting period and later SALNs may already include assets previously declared.
“It’s not supposed to be added anyway because those are different years and the late declaration is already included in the first declaration,” Escudero said.
Even under that assumption, however, Escudero said the P336 million total would still not reach the P424 million reflected in the financial records presented by Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura.
“On the assumption that nothing was spent from all their assets and everything was deposited in the bank, it still wouldn’t reach such a large amount,” he said.
Escudero then asked Buenaventura what could account for the difference between the SALN figures and the total transactions reflected in the AMLC records.
“What would explain this huge amount? Could it be that the money went in and out of the accounts?” Escudero asked.
Buenaventura said he could not explain how the transactions reached P424 million.
The P424 million figure cited by Escudero is separate from the P4.4 billion in covered and suspicious transactions that Buenaventura testified were recorded in the accounts of Duterte and Carpio from 2007 to 2025.
The AMLC official said the P4.4 billion figure was based on records reported by financial institutions to the council.
Buenaventura earlier testified that about P1.63 billion of the P4.4 billion represented inflows, while P1.3 billionrepresented outflows. Another P1.4 billion involved transactions for which the direction of funds had not been determined.
Escudero also said he conducted another calculation, this time adding Duterte’s SALNs from 2007 through 2025.
He said the total came to approximately P840 million, still far below the P4.4 billion in transactions reflected in the AMLC report for the same period.
When asked again to explain the discrepancy, Buenaventura said he could not.
The exchange came as Buenaventura concluded his testimony after spending two days on the witness stand in Duterte’s impeachment trial.
Escudero thanked the AMLC executive director for his time and patience during questioning by the senator-judges and both parties.
“We made it through, Atty. Ronel. Thank you. Thank you for your time, patience, perseverance, and for answering the questions from the senator-judges and both parties,” Escudero said.
Escudero then noted that Buenaventura had set a record for the longest time spent on the witness stand in a Philippine impeachment trial.
“You now hold the record for spending the longest time on the witness stand,” Escudero said. “I won’t say congratulations, but thank you very much. You’re excused, sir.”
Buenaventura’s testimony formed part of the prosecution’s presentation for Article II of the impeachment case, which concerns allegations involving Duterte’s wealth and financial declarations.
His testimony included financial records involving Duterte and Carpio, including the disclosure that Carpio withdrew a total of P41 million from two banks in six transactions on Aug. 6, 2024.
