Could omitting corporate acquisition costs in her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) mean Vice President Sara Duterte’s net worth, which 2025 records showed was a whopping ₱98 million, is undervalued?
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian raised this question on Tuesday, Sept. 15, after House prosecutors presented Duterte’s SALNs from 2007 to 2025 at the resumption of her impeachment trial, this time on allegations that she amassed unexplained wealth while in office.
“These corporations that I see in her SALNs did not declare acquisition costs. So this means there is a possibility her net worth was undervalued?” Gatchalian asked prosecution witness, Karen Batu, the officer-in-charge of the Central Records Division of the Office of the Ombudsman.
“It’s because these corporations had no value?” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
But Batu, a lawyer, said she “could not make such inference” since the Ombudsman’s office was “merely a repository agency” of government officials’ records. “As to the SALNs of anyone, if it’s undervalued because he did not declare the acquisition cost, we can’t say that.”
Undervalued
Gatchalian turned to House prosecutor James Bryan Ibrahim Alih and asked whether nondeclaration of acquisition costs of Duterte’s corporate interests in her SALNs meant her net worth was undervalued.
“It’s declared, but there is no value. It means that the acquisition costs might be millions,” the Senate president said.
Alih said this “can be a possibility,” but added that he wanted to be careful. “(The acquisition costs) must be declared, so it could be clear at the outset what are the corresponding values of shares of stocks.”
Gatchalian said that including acquisition costs of the corporations listed under Duterte’s name would increase her net worth. “Yes, and that was my line of questioning a while ago; that’s a possibility,” Alih said.
Correcting SALNs
Gatchalian asked Batu when “declarants” can correct their SALN declarations if they have incomplete values, as he noted that people cannot see the “true net worth” in Duterte’s SALNs.
Batu said government officials are supposed to submit their SALNs every April 30 to “heads of agencies,” who, in turn, have to submit these records to the Ombudsman’s office every June 30.
Once these records are submitted to the Ombudsman’s office, no changes can be made anymore, she said.
Gatchalian concluded that since no correction was made in Duterte’s SALNs, her net worth was possibly undervalued, something which Alih agreed upon.
“Yes, Your Honor, that’s why I think there is a corrective mechanism so that if there are any unintentional mistakes, these can be corrected. The problem would be if there is continued declaration and there are no corrections. But I’ll leave that judgment to the honorable court,” Alih said.
On Day 25 of Duterte’s impeachment trial, Batu confirmed the authenticity of the Vice President’s SALNs during the prosecution’s presentation to the impeachment court.
Batu had earlier testified to their authenticity during the investigation of the House committee that looked into Duterte’s confidential funds in November 2024.
Defense lawyer Justin Nicol Gular objected to the prosecution’s inclusion of Duterte’s SALNs when she was Davao City vice mayor from 2007 to 2012 since she was not an impeachable officer then.
Gular cited the Supreme Court ruling on Duterte vs. House of Representatives, where the impeachment court’s ambit was “only on alleged matters” during her vice presidency.
But the court’s presiding officer, Sen. Francis Escudero, reminded Gular that he already ruled on this when the court allowed the prosecution’s request to subpoena Duterte’s SALNs from 2007 to 2025.
Net worth baseline figure
“There is a necessity to establish the baseline, not for the prosecution but equally for the respondent to find out the base figure for the computation of her SALN during her term as vice president,” Escudero explained.
He reminded anew that the court was “not adding to the charges against the Vice President prior to her term as vice president.”
Through Alih’s questions, Batu confirmed that Duterte’s net worth increased drastically, from ₱7,250,497 in 2007 to ₱98,656,131.2 in 2025.
“In 2007, she had ₱7 million in net worth. In all of the years as the Vice President, her net worth climbed to ₱98 million while she was in government,” Alih said.
Batu also confirmed that Duterte had no cash declarations (whether on hand or in bank) in her SALNs from 2019 to 2025, after doing so every year in the covered periods.
She said Duterte had listed several business interests from 2007 to 2012 and from 2016 to 2025 but did not declare acquisition costs for those shares.
Corporate acquisitions
Escudero asked Batu where to enter acquisition costs in the SALN form. “Is there a blank space for the acquisition costs in the business interest and financial connections section?” he asked the witness, who said the form had none.
“So including the acquisition costs is not being asked in the form?” Escudero asked. She repeated that the form did state it.
Senator-judge Risa Hontiveros asked Alih whether she should declare the acquisition costs of shares under personal properties if she was a company shareholder.
The prosecutor replied by citing Section 8 of Republic Act No. 6173, or the Code of Conduct for Government Workers, where he said: “Personal property and acquisition costs must be included in the SALN.”
“It is clear there that the word used is “and acquisition costs,” Alih pointed out.
Interjecting, Escudero asked if the acquisition of stocks needed to be declared, “where in the form” can one make that declaration. “Even if the official wanted to, where and how will he put it down when we’re supposed to fill out a prescribed form?” he said.
The presiding officer noted that the day before, prosecution witness, retired Sandiganbayan presiding justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, had said this was a standard form.
“So why does this pro forma form not include a line or column for acquisition costs for businesses if that is the requirement of the law?” Escudero said.
Alih said stocks are considered personal property and should be listed under the “personal property” portion. He noted that there was no separate portion for investments, and that the prosecution believes it should be included in personal property and “itemized.”
Review of SALN guidelines
But Escudero said the SALN guidelines did not include this.
According to Hontiveros, the guidelines stated that personal property included jewelry, appliances, motor vehicles, and stocks, among others. Though she could not recall who said it, she agreed on the need to “amend, change, and improve” the SALN form so that they may be declared as stated in the law.
Escudero asked Batu if she was aware that Duterte had corrected her SALN twice—first in 2017 for her 2016 record, and in 2020 for her 2019 record. Batu said that based on their records, the Vice President only corrected her SALN in 2025.
The presiding officer later clarified that Duterte had sent a letter to the Ombudsman for clerical matters to include a relative’s name in her SALN and the home address of her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte. CS
