The House prosecution on Thursday stressed that financial discrepancies involving Vice President Sara Z. Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, were based on their own tax returns, audited financial statements and asset declarations, not speculation.

House impeachment team adviser and spokesperson Ace Barbers said records presented by Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Charlito Martin Mendoza’s chief of staff, Anne Loraine Garcia-Marquez, during Duterte’s Senate impeachment trial raised serious questions about the couple’s income, accumulated wealth and cash holdings.

Garcia-Marquez is scheduled to return Friday, Oct. 9, for the continuation of her cross-examination.

“So sila mismo, hindi ito haka-haka mula sa prosecution because sila mismo ang nagdeklara nito sa kanilang BIR filings,” Barbers said at a post-trial press briefing.

“Hindi po galing sa prosecution ang mga numerong kanyang ipinakita. Galing ito sa mga tax returns at financial statements na si VP Sara at si Atty. Carpio mismo ang nag-file,” he added.

Garcia-Marquez also confirmed that Duterte and Carpio signed statements acknowledging responsibility for the information contained in their 2025 tax returns and accompanying financial statements.

Barbers said BIR records showed that the couple reported combined after-tax income of P85.34 million from 2007 to 2025.

During the same period, Duterte’s declared net worth increased by P91.41 million, from P7.25 million in 2007 to P98.66 million in 2025.

The increase exceeded the couple’s combined reported income by approximately P6.06 million, even before accounting for living expenses and other expenditures.

He also flagged discrepancies between the couple’s cash holdings reported to the BIR and Duterte’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs).

Their audited financial statements showed P21.23 million in cash on hand and in banks in 2022, P28.97 million in 2023, P15.53 million in 2024 and P13.8 million in 2025.

However, Duterte’s SALNs for those years contained no separate entries for cash on hand or cash in banks.

“Dalawa ’yung items na nawawala doon sa kanyang SALN: ’yung cash on hand at saka cash in bank. Malaking bagay ’yun,” Barbers said.

He disputed the defense’s explanation that the cash holdings were included under other personal properties, saying the figures still failed to reconcile with the financial records presented in court.

“Malinaw na merong willful and deliberate concealment of this material asset ng ating Pangalawang Pangulo dahil wala ito sa kanyang SALN,” he said.

The evidence forms part of Article II of the impeachment complaint, which concerns allegations of unexplained wealth and discrepancies in Duterte’s asset declarations. House Public Communications Bureau