Courtesy: House justice panel
MAMAMAYANG Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima on Wednesday raised doubts about the completeness and reliability of Vice President Sara Duterte’s financial disclosures, pointing to the disappearance of declared cash on hand or cash in bank from 2019 to 2024, the shift of reported liabilities solely to her husband beginning 2021, and the rapid rise in declared net worth over the same period.
“On the first point of observation that I am making, ‘yung tungkol po doon sa wala na pong naipakita, wala na pong nai-declare o rinireport na cash in bank o cash on hand noong 2019-2024. Pero noong mga una meron na rereport na mga cash on hand or cash in bank,” De Lima noted during the House Committee on Justice hearing on the impeachment complaints against Duterte.
“So from 2019 to 2024, wala na pong cash on hand or cash in bank. Para sa akin po ang biglaan at tuloy-tuloy na pagkawala ng deklarasyon ng liquid assets. Because cash on hand and cash in the bank are liquid assets. Sa kabila ng dati meron naman na mga halaga ng mga cash on hand, cash in bank, ay nagdudulot ng pagdududa sa kawastuhan at kabuuan ng subsequent SALNs ni VP Sara,” she pointed out.
De Lima then shifted from the missing liquid asset entries to what she described as another noticeable break in the SALN pattern, this time involving the reporting of liabilities, after reading into the record the liabilities declared from 2016 to 2020 and contrasting them with what appeared in the succeeding years.
“Second point of observation Madam Chair. Tungkol naman po sa liabilities. Nakita rin po natin as to liabilities, VP Sara declared 6,954,454 in 2016,” she recalled.
“At sa 2017 naman liabilities of 6,313,188 in 2017 and 6,119,113 in 2018. At sa 2019 naman po ay 3,460,790 and 2,490,105.90 in 2020. Kapansin-pansin po na mula 2021 tanging ang kanyang asawa na si Manases Carpio. Nagre-reflect ho ba yan dyan? Natanging ang kanyang asawa na si Manases Carpio ang may dineklarang mga liabilities at wala nang iniulat na utang o liability ni VP. Mako-confirm ho ba yan?” De Lima asked.
Atty. Karen Batu of the Central Records Division of the Office of the Ombudsman then confirmed, year after year, that the liabilities reflected in the SALN submissions from 2021 onward were loans of Duterte’s husband alone.
“Your Honor I am reading from the 2021 SALN submitted by the VP and it is stated there that the liabilities was a personal loan from various creditors po by Atty. Manases Carpio,” Batu replied.
“Based on the submitted 2022 SALN of the Vice President, the liabilities stated or declared therein were a personal loan of Manases Carpio,” she clarified.
“For the 2023 SALN, Your Honor, based on the submitted SALN by the Vice President, the liabilities declared therein were a personal loan of Manases Carpio, Your Honor.”
“For the 2024 SALN, Your Honor, reading from the submission of the vice president, the liabilities were declared to be loans of Manases Carpio only, Your Honor, from various creditors and banks,” Batu explained.
De Lima underscored that this was not a minor technical change in the SALN forms but a pattern that, in her view, deserved closer scrutiny because it could point to changes in classification or reporting that affected the full picture of the Vice President’s financial disclosures.
“Again, only Manases Carpio and not Sara Duterte. Observation with respect to this. For the record, Madam Chair, ang ganitong biglang pagbabago sa paraan ng pag-uulat ng liabilities ay lubhang kahinahinala at nararapat siyasatin,” De Lima stressed.
“Ang ganito pong pagbabago sa paraan ng pag-uulat ng liabilities ay lubhang kahinahinala at nararapat siyasatin as it may indicate reclassification or possible circumvention of full disclosure requirements,” she emphasized.
She then moved to the third point in her review, which was the pace of the increase in Duterte’s declared net worth as reflected in the matrix shown to the panel during the hearing.
“The respondents’ declared net worth increased from 34,895,997 in 2016 to 71,658,841 in 2022, the year she assumed the office of Vice President. Sa loob lamang ng dalawang taon, ito ay lalo pang umakyat sa 88,512,370.22 noong 2024,” De Lima observed.
Taken together, De Lima argued, the combination of rising net worth, the disappearance of declared liquid assets, and the transfer or diminution of liabilities raised serious questions that the committee could not simply brush aside in its ongoing examination of Duterte’s SALNs.
“Observation po. Ang ganitong mabilis at medyo malaking pagtaas ng yaman with the absence of declared liquid assets and the diminution or transfer of liabilities ay nagbubunsod ng seryoso rin pagdududahing gills of veracity, transparency, and integrity of the Vice President’s financial disclosures,” De Lima said.
“So those are my observations with respect to the SALNs. Maraming salamat po,” De Lima said.
