MANILA – Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Thursday noted that a P6-million property purchased by Vice President Sara Duterte’s husband, Atty. Manases Carpio, in 2024 did not appear as a corresponding specific entry in the Vice President’s 2025 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).
During Day 32 of Duterte’s impeachment trial, Register of Deeds IV Kathy Florence Baldonado testified that land records showed Carpio purchased a 379-square-meter property in Matina, Davao City, for P6 million on July 2, 2024.
The title remains registered under “Atty. Manases R. Carpio, married to Sara Z. Duterte Carpio,” according to Baldonado. Journal News
Escudero said he reviewed Duterte’s 2025 SALN and could not find the particular property declared as such.
“The Presiding Officer has looked into the SALN of the Vice President in 2025 and does not find this particular property as one of the real properties declared,” Escudero said. Journal News
He later qualified his observation, noting that SALN entries do not necessarily contain enough details to establish a direct one-to-one match with individual land titles.
Baldonado likewise said she could not identify an entry in the SALN matching the property based on its P6-million acquisition cost, location and mode of acquisition. Journal News
The defense disputed the prosecution’s position, arguing that the Matina property could correspond to an existing entry in Duterte’s SALN because Matina Crossing is also known as Barangay 74-A.
Escudero said the defense could establish that point during cross-examination, stressing that his observation was limited to the fact that the property was not declared “as such.” Journal News
The testimony forms part of the prosecution’s presentation under Article II involving allegations of unexplained wealth and inaccuracies or omissions in Duterte’s SALNs. The allegations remain contested and subject to the impeachment court’s evaluation of the evidence.
