ASEANEWS HEADLINE-VP DU30 IMPEACHMENT 9.15.26 DAY #25 | MANILA: VP Sara’s net worth ballooned to P98.6M

Karen Batu, officer-in-charge of the Office of the Ombudsman’s Central Records Division, authenticated and read Duterte’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) during her direct examination on the 25th day of the vice president’s impeachment trial.

Responding to questions from House prosecution counsel James Bryan Ibrahim Alih, Batu testified that Duterte declared a net worth of P7,150,497 in 2007, when she was elected Davao City vice mayor, based on her SALN for that year.

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By 2025, she said the declared net worth of Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, had reached P98,656,131.20, representing an increase of P91.4 million or about 1,280 percent.

Based on Batu’s testimony, the declared net worth figures recorded in the SALNs were: 2007: P7,250,497; 2008: P18,493,616.65; 2009: P18,281,264.65; 2010: P16,242,886.65; 2011: P14,271,148.45; 2012: P22,116,101.93.

Duterte was not in elective public office during portions of the period, and no publicly available SALNs were identified for 2013 through 2015.

When she returned to elective office, the figures recorded in the SALNs were 2016: P34,895,997; 2017: P44,828,759; 2018: P49,699,728; 2019: P55,613,051; 2020: P56,583,735.10; 2021: P65,308,841.

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Batu also testified that even while she was sitting as vice president and was constitutionally barred from engaging in any businesses, Duterte’s net worth climbed by 37.67 percent from P71,658,841 in her first year in office in 2022 to P98,656,131.20 in 2025.

Duterte’s wealth increased even though she is prohibited from directly or indirectly practicing any other profession, participating in any business, or being financially interested in government-connected contracts or franchises during her tenure as vice president, according to Section 13, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution.

Batu testified that Duterte declared in her SALNs that she continued to have active corporate and business interests even after her election as vice president.

Duterte declared in her 2022 SALN that she was a shareholder in Davao New Royal Taipan Corp., Metro City Chow Foods Corp., Times Square Bee Foods Corp., and Tapang at Malasakit Alliance for the Philippines Inc.

In that same filing, she also declared that her husband declared Carpio Duterte Lawyers, KL88 Foods Corp., 888 Bistro, and Madayaw Fisheries Inc.

By 2023, new entities appeared in Duterte’s SALN: Mati City Ice Plant and Cold Storage Inc., Amianan Shores Inc., and Geometry Security and Investigation Agency Inc.

The 2024 and 2025 filings expanded further to include GenCorp Industries Inc., Carpio Lawyers (formerly Carpio Duterte Lawyers), and Cable Tow 88 Shipping and Marine Services Inc.

However, the acquisition cost or stock equity for these business interests were not declared by Duterte in her SALNs, Batu said.

During questioning by the private prosecutor, Batu also confirmed that Duterte did not declare a single peso in cash from 2019 to 2025, even as her net worth continued to rise.

Duterte previously declared P2 million in cash in 2007 and 2008; P2.8 million in 2009; P3.66 million in 2010; P3.93 million in 2011; and P4.32 million in 2012.

She reported P3.75 million in cash in 2016, P6.37 million in 2017 and P3.80 million in 2018.

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But her declared cash dropped to zero in 2019 and remained at zero through 2025, according to the SALNs presented during the hearing.

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Trial paused

The Senate impeachment court will pause the trial Wednesday to hear the opinions of court-appointed amici curiae on the disputed conviction vote threshold in Duterte’s trial, while the presentation of a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) witness was moved to next week.

Presiding officer Francis Escudero said there will be no witness presentation on Sept. 16 as the court receives the views of retired chief justices Artemio Panganiban and Reynato Puno, and retired associate justice Adolfo Azcuna. Former chief justice Hilario Davide Jr. will participate through a memorandum.

“Tomorrow, as a reminder to the parties, we will not have a trial. We shall receive the [opinions] of the friends of the court or the amici curiae,” Escudero said.

The four former Supreme Court justices were earlier tapped to help the court settle questions on the voting base for conviction in the impeachment case.

Escudero said senator-judges will be given five minutes each to ask questions, while the prosecution and defense may course their own questions through the presiding officer.

The court also directed the clerk of court to furnish senator-judges and both parties copies of Davide’s memorandum and another memorandum submitted ad cautelam by Fr. Ranhilio Aquino of the San Beda Graduate School of Law.

The schedule adjustment came after House prosecutor Rep. Terry Ridon asked that the next witness be presented on Sept. 21 instead, saying the direct examination would involve lengthy financial documents.

“The presentation is quite long because it involves financial documents,” Ridon told the court in Filipino.

Escudero granted the request and directed the issuance of subpoenas to SEC official Gerardo del Rosario to appear before the court on Sept. 21 and 22 at 10 a.m.

He said the reset would also give Duterte’s lawyers more time to prepare for possible cross-examination.

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Defense: No proof of irregularities

The vice president’s defense on Tuesday said the Ombudsman witness presented by prosecutors could not establish that her SALNs contained irregularities, as the impeachment trial turned to her declared wealth.

Defense counsel Michael Wesley Poa said Batu, an Ombudsman records custodian, was only presented to identify and authenticate Duterte’s SALNs and had no personal knowledge of whether the declarations contained undeclared assets or ill-gotten wealth.

“The witness that was presented today is from the Office of the Ombudsman, and she is a record custodian. Therefore, she cannot testify on whether there was ill-gotten wealth or nondeclaration or nondisclosure in the SALN,” Poa said during the post trial briefing. WITH PNA