Vice President Sara Duterte’s legal team presented on Thursday at her impeachment trial two witnesses who disputed the prosecution’s allegations that her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, used his credit card lavishly to pay for fine dining and expensive shoes. On Nov. 12, the fourth day of the defense’s turn to respond to the sole article of...
Author: Christine O. Avendaño (Christine Avendaño)
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Duterte got ₱2.14M as ‘return of capital’ from food firm, says defense witness
Vice President Sara Duterte received ₱2.14 million as “return of capital” from GenCorp Industries Inc. from 2022 to 2025, stemming from a “loose investment” she made in a company later taken over by GenCorp, a defense witness told the Senate impeachment court on Wednesday, Nov. 11. GenCorp, a food corporation that owns six Jollibee stores,...
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Davao City accountant an ex-partner in audit firm of Duterte-linked companies, say prosecutors
The defense witness in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte came under fire after prosecutors disclosed that she is a former partner at an accounting firm that audited controversial companies linked to Duterte. Davao City accountant Vingelin Bajan, 50, was supposed to testify on Tuesday, Nov. 10, on the compensation that the prosecutors said...
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VP Duterte’s defense team presents first witness, who admits to uncertainty
A 379-square-meter residential lot Vice President Sara Duterte declared in her 2024 and 2025 statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) matches the tax declarations in his custody, Davao City land assessor Jaime Adalin told the Senate impeachment court on Monday at the resumption of her trial. But Adalin, an engineer and the first...
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Impeachment articles against Duterte down to one: unexplained wealth
The Senate impeachment court approved on Tuesday, Oct. 13, the House prosecutors’ withdrawal of three of four articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte, keeping only the charge of unexplained and undeclared wealth against her for trial. Presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero said the court “accepts and confirms” the prosecution’s manifestation to drop Article...
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Unexplained wealth of Duterte, husband could reach ₱1.5B, says financial expert
The unexplained wealth of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio, could reach as high as ₱1.5 billion over three years since she took office in 2022, according to a forensic analyst. Alexander Cabrera gave the figure on Monday, Oct. 12, during Duterte’s impeachment trial when Senate presiding officer Francis Escudero asked for...
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Analyst says VP, husband have ‘undeclared wealth’ of ₱817.8 million
A financial forensics analyst testified on Friday that Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, have ₱817.8 million in undeclared wealth amassed over the three years since she took office in 2022. According to lawyer-accountant Alexander Cabrera, the undeclared wealth consists of hidden assets such as cash, personal and other real properties,...
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‘There’s a gap, a difference’ in VP’s SALN and tax records
Vice President Sara Duterte’s declared net worth for 2025 exceeds the combined after-tax income that she and her husband, Manases Carpio, earned over the last 18 years. From 2007, when she was vice mayor of Davao City, to 2025, as the second-highest official of the land, Duterte and her husband earned a combined after-tax income...
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Dutertes hid ₱96M by ‘floating’ BPI bank transactions, says prosecution
Vice President Sara Duterte and her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, concealed ₱96 million in joint time deposit accounts they opened in 2011 by “floating” their bank transactions for two to three years, according to documents presented by House prosecutors. But the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) time deposit accounts under their names at...
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Senator-judges puzzled by Duterte couple’s bank records
The math simply isn’t mathing for the Senate impeachment court when it examined ₱4.4 billion in bank transactions tied to Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio, and flagged by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC). Court presiding officer Francis Escudero and Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian confronted AMLC Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura about discrepancies...