The Senate impeachment court has admitted Vice President Sara Duterte’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs), bank records, and other financial documents into evidence for her impeachment trial, particularly in connection with allegations of unexplained wealth and non-divestment of business interests. In an order dated November 5, the court accepted Duterte’s SALNs dating back to 2007, along with bank transactions, corporate records, insurance and investment documents, and income tax records involving her and her husband, Manases Carpio. It also admitted procurement, marriage, firearms, and land records relevant to the prosecution’s allegations under Article II of the impeachment complaint.
The court also largely accepted the financial report of forensic analyst and lawyer Alex Cabrera, which estimated the couple’s unexplained wealth at between P817 million and P1.5 billion. However, it excluded certain scheduled entries and computations derived from records of JTC Group and Pikimong Pikimong, as well as documents directly linked to the two firms. The Senate court emphasized that admitting documents into evidence does not establish the truth of the allegations, stressing that the weight and significance of the evidence will be determined by the senator-judges at the conclusion of the trial.
The court also ordered strict confidentiality for protected bank, tax, anti-money laundering, foreign-currency, and personal records, prohibiting their unauthorized publication or distribution. The impeachment trial will resume on November 9 at 10 a.m., when Duterte’s defense team is scheduled to begin presenting evidence in response to the prosecution’s case.
