The Manila Times
LAWYER Lorna Kapunan said she believes that the House of Representatives Committee on Justice has seen and heard enough — from the discrepancies in Vice President Sara Duterte’s declared net worth to the flagged bank transactions — to find probable cause to impeach her. “The House Committee on Justice has already met its target to prove probable cause, that a crime was committed, that a violation of law was committed, and that the vice president is probably guilty thereof. But it’s not guilt beyond reasonable doubt,” she said in Filipino and English in a radio interview on Friday. The veteran litigator also warned the public not to be swayed by the vice president’s press releases, her defense team, or online trolls seeking to discredit the nondisclosure findings in Duterte’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) and the Anti-Money Laundering Council’s (AMLC) report. “No spin can change what is already on official record,” she said. “With all the evidence, follow the numbers. Don’t believe the press releases, trolls, and statements outside the Committee on Justice. Believe in the numbers. Let the numbers speak for themselves,” she said. Kapunan noted that the evidence shown are official records of government agencies: the Office of the Ombudsman for the SALNs; the AMLC reporting on suspicious and covered transactions; and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the companies of the Vice president and her husband, Manases Carpio. The records, she said, raise legitimate questions that cannot be ignored. “So, these are records, they don’t lie. When speaking of litigation, there is already the presence of hard evidence, documentary from official sources. This is not opinion, this is not hearsay. These are documents,” Kapunan said. During the April 22 hearing, committee members uncovered a more than elevenfold jump in Duterte’s net worth, from P7.2 million in 2007 to P88.4 million in 2024. Despite the dramatic surge, it also found that she had failed to report her cash on hand and bank deposits under personal assets in her SALNs from 2019 to 2024. Meanwhile, the AMLC reported to the justice panel that more than 600 transactions worth P6.7 billion from Duterte and her husband’s bank accounts had been flagged as covered or suspicious from 2006 to 2025. The AMLC also confirmed that 19 of the bank transaction entries presented by former senator Antonio Trillanes IV matched its own records on the same dates and amounts, including the P22 million Duterte had allegedly received from Samuel Uy, a purported drug lord and close business associate of the Duterte family. Kapunan, meanwhile, noted that the Committee on Justice has given the Vice President ample opportunity to address the allegations and defend herself, but instead, the defense team filed a non-answer and Duterte continues to shun the hearings. She emphasized that Duterte cannot hide behind jurisdictional arguments to avoid attending the hearings, pointing out that the Constitution itself grants the House the authority to initiate impeachment proceedings. Moreover, she noted, the hearings are clarificatory rather than evidentiary, meaning the Committee on Justice is simply examining the facts cited in the impeachment complaints and giving the respondent the opportunity to be heard before ruling on probable cause. Duterte’s defense team also cannot claim to be “surprised” at the evidence and testimonies being examined, she said, given that “all hearings are being televised and subpoenas publicly issued.” The Committee on Justice is set to hold its final hearing on April 29, where the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will present its findings on the alleged death threats Duterte made against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House speaker Martin Romualdez. The panel will then vote on whether probable cause exists for each allegation in the impeachment complaints. Due process Meanwhile, Sen. Robinhood Padilla emphasized that any impeachment proceedings against Duterte must strictly adhere to due process, warning against attempts to expedite or bypass constitutional procedures. Interviewed on a TV news program, Padilla, a Duterte ally, said the process should not skip mandated steps, particularly the requirement for deliberation in the House of Representatives before advancing to the Senate for trial. “The process cannot be skipped. It must go through due process. The Supreme Court of the Philippines has repeatedly underscored its importance,” Padilla said. “If we skip it, we risk wasting the people’s time and money.” Padilla also raised broader concerns about the relevance of impeachment proceedings amid pressing national issues, suggesting that economic concerns, such as wages, should take precedence. “Is impeachment really the solution to the country’s problems?” he asked. “Why don’t we talk about people’s wages, like the minimum wage? That is the real problem of the people.”
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