IN Day 43 of the impeachment trial, the defense offered explanations for two credit card bills worth less than 1% of the alleged P817-million unexplained wealth of Vice President Sara Duterte, while larger financial questions remained unanswered.
At the November 12 post-trial press conference, House prosecution spokesperson Zia Alonto Adiong compared the spending discussed by the day’s witnesses with forensic accounting expert Alexander Cabrera’s findings.
“That’s just about P500,000,” he said of the restaurant bill and shoe purchase.
The recorded charges were P205,007.29 at Ginza Inakaya in Tokyo and P256,882.50 at Nike Pavilion in Kuala Lumpur. Together, they totaled P461,889.79, approximately 0.06% of Cabrera’s P817.87-million estimate.
The percentage compares their size. The card purchases were lifestyle examples in Cabrera’s report and were excluded from his computed total. Explaining those bills therefore does not reduce the P817.87-million amount.
“So ganun po ka-minor detail ito,” Alonto Adiong said.
He described the prosecution as “kind of frustrated” with the scope of the day’s testimony.
“The whole point of having today’s trial is to really begin explaining and discussing about the 817,” he said.
Cabrera’s estimate combines alleged undeclared assets and calculated income components involving Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, across 2022 to 2025. The prosecution wants the defense to address the bank, insurance, property and corporate records underlying those findings.
Only lawyer Anel Martin S. Antero and Chadrin S. Parian testified this morning. Antero discussed an eleven-person dinner charged to Carpio’s card and said the diners contributed. Asked for a document supporting reimbursement, he said he had none to present.
Parian said Carpio sponsored shoes following the children’s basketball championship. He acknowledged parents and guardians also received shoes and explained some participants lacked funds for shoes or travel.
The prosecution’s criticism followed senator-judges’ challenges to its questioning about sports sponsorship. Alonto Adiong recalled Senator-Judge Juan Miguel Zubiri’s call to focus on the larger financial issues.
He said the prosecution wanted explanations “in order for the court to understand bakit merong unexplained na 817 million pesos.”
The defense continues its presentation on Article II, the remaining unexplained-wealth charge. The next whole-day trial settings are November 19 and 20.
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