No such Barangay Matanos in Samal — VP Sara witness admits

A DEFENSE witness on Tuesday admitted that no Barangay Matanos exists in the Island Garden City of Samal, even though Vice President Sara Z. Duterte listed that location in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) for a property questioned by the House prosecution.

City Assessor Engr. John Kenneth Enumerables also confirmed that the property’s official location did not match the one in Duterte’s SALN.

The property, registered under Duterte’s husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, is located in Barangay San Isidro, Kaputian, Samal, according to official records.

But Duterte’s SALN listed Barangay Matanos, Kaputian.

“May barangay po ba na Matanos sa Samal?” Presiding Officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero asked.

“Wala po, Your Honor,” Enumerables replied.

Escudero also asked whether the locations in the two records matched.

“Hindi po,” the witness admitted.

Enumerables initially suggested that Matanos might be a sitio of San Isidro but acknowledged he was unsure.

“Parang sitio po, Your Honor. I’m not very sure,” he said.

Escudero later raised information suggesting that Matanos might instead be a sitio of Barangay San Remigio.

Asked whether that was correct, Enumerables replied, “I have no personal knowledge, Your Honor.”

Senator-Judge Risa Hontiveros also questioned the conflicting locations, citing online information suggesting that San Isidro and Matanos were different places.

Escudero clarified that the witness had consistently identified San Isidro as the property’s official location.

“It was the Vice President who indicated in her SALN the name of the barangay,” Escudero said.

The property, covered by Transfer Certificate of Title No. 142-2019013134, has an assessed value of P346,960 and a market value of P4,956,600.

Enumerables said those figures matched the values in Duterte’s SALN.

But when Escudero asked whether he had any other basis for identifying the two properties as the same, the witness admitted he had none.

“Wala po, Your Honor, kasi hindi po nakalagay ’yung title number at saka ’yung ARP number po ng property,” Enumerables said, referring to the Assessment of Real Property number used to identify properties in local tax records.

Escudero acknowledged that SALNs do not require title numbers.

The defense presented Enumerables to prove that the Samal property had been declared in Duterte’s SALN.

His testimony came a day after Davao City Assessor Engr. Jaime Adalin appeared for the defense to establish that another disputed property in Matina Crossing, Davao City, had been declared.

The House prosecution has challenged whether the properties identified in official land records are actually the same assets listed in Duterte’s SALNs.

The disputed properties form part of the prosecution’s evidence supporting its allegation that Duterte accumulated at least P817.87 million in undeclared assets and unexplained wealth from 2022 to 2025.