HOUSE prosecutors will review the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) findings on properties linked to Vice President Sara Duterte and her family to determine whether the assets were included in the prosecution’s computation of P817.87 million in alleged unexplained wealth.
Senator-Judge Erwin Tulfo sought the review on Monday after the NBI presented its initial assessment of properties linked to Duterte and Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, citing discrepancies between declared acquisition costs in their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) and the bureau’s preliminary estimates.
“Would you later look into this to counter-check whether the NBI’s investigation is correct?” Tulfo asked House prosecutor Chel Diokno during the 38th day of Duterte’s impeachment trial.
“Sure, we will do that, your honor,” Diokno replied.
Tulfo showed financial forensic analyst Alexander Cabrera materials from the NBI’s press briefing earlier that day and asked whether the properties had been included in his assessment of Duterte’s finances.
Cabrera said he could not confirm this without examining the relevant documents, including transfer certificates of title (TCTs), property addresses and land areas.
Tulfo specifically asked about an agricultural property in Barangay Santo Niño, Balac, on the Island Garden City of Samal (Igacos), reportedly declared at an acquisition cost of P200,000.
Asked whether two properties presented by the NBI were included in the approximately P817 million in alleged unexplained wealth attributed to Duterte, Cabrera said he was unsure.
“I am not sure whether those are included,” he said, adding that the properties might already have been covered by Duterte’s declarations.
Cabrera also said that one property appeared valuable because it had two swimming pools, but stressed that its appearance alone was insufficient to determine whether it had been included in his computation.
Diokno told the impeachment court that the prosecution had copies of Duterte’s SALNs detailing her declared real properties but had not yet reviewed the NBI presentation.
Tulfo asked the prosecution to obtain the relevant documents and compare them with Cabrera’s findings.
‘Numbers don’t lie’
Separately, Diokno defended the prosecution’s reliance on financial records, saying the unexplained wealth allegations ultimately concern transparency and accountability in public office.
Responding to Senator-Judge Lito Lapid, who asked what the public should take away from the witnesses and documents presented during the trial, Diokno said an honest public official should have nothing to hide.
“It is easy to pretend to be an ordinary person who eats at a neighborhood eatery, but under Article II on unexplained wealth, that’s where the truth comes out. The numbers do not lie,” Diokno said.
Lapid raised the question following testimony on the P817.87 million in allegedly undeclared assets and unexplained wealth attributed to Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio.
Diokno said the central issue under Article II, which accuses Duterte of unexplained wealth, was straightforward.
“When we look at the heart of Article II, I think it comes down to this: an honest public official has nothing to hide,” he said.
He said the case hinged not on witness testimony alone but on financial records from banks, the Anti-Money Laundering Council, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“What matters here is not the witnesses themselves, but the documents and the numbers,” Diokno said.
“These bank documents, for example, did not pass through the hands of the prosecution. The banks sent them directly to this court. So we can say that these are independent facts that anyone can verify,” he added.
Diokno said the proceedings were not simply about Duterte as a person but also about public trust, leadership and accountability.
“This case is really not about Vice President Sara Duterte as a person. To me, it is about the trust the people have placed in her,” Diokno said.
“It is not about her as a person, but about leadership — whether she has governed properly and, more importantly, whether a high-ranking public official has the integrity and fitness to continue serving in office,” he added.
Lapid’s questions followed testimony from Cabrera, who presented a computation of P817,874,867 in allegedly undeclared wealth involving Duterte and Carpio from 2022 to 2025.
The total covered allegedly undeclared cash, personal and real properties, income attributed to the couple, and amounts computed from several corporate entities.
The highest annual figure was recorded in 2024 at P264,217,123, followed by P195,692,505 in 2025, P190,628,012 in 2022 and P167,337,227 in 2023.
Cabrera identified P207,696,933 in allegedly undeclared cash over the four-year period: P60,214,776 in 2022, P80,701,151 in 2023, P23,169,077 in 2024 and P43,611,929 in 2025.
He also identified P143,497,177 in other allegedly undeclared personal and real properties, net of deductions. The annual figures were P76,147,730 in 2022, P3,934,560 in 2023, P52,016,994 in 2024 and P11,397,893 in 2025.
The analysis also calculated P111,852,349 in allegedly undeclared income attributed to the couple, broken down into P50,474,511 in 2022, P12,198,235 in 2023, P28,030,203 in 2024 and P21,149,400 in 2025.
For Cale88 Foods Corp. and Metro City Chow, Cabrera computed P142,198,690 in allegedly undeclared income. The annual figures were P3,790,995 in 2022, P14,788,989 in 2023, P86,944,369 in 2024 and P36,674,337 in 2025.
For GenCorp Industries Inc., the computed amount reached P212,629,718 from 2023 to 2025: P55,714,292 in 2023, P74,056,480 in 2024 and P82,858,946 in 2025. No amount was recorded for 2022 under this category.
Cabrera, a lawyer and certified public accountant with more than three decades of experience in accounting, taxation, law and financial forensics, has defended the computation before the impeachment court.
