House trial spokesperson and Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong has reiterated the call for Vice President Sara Z. Duterte to attend her impeachment trial and explain her side on the allegations raised regarding her amassing of unexplained wealth.
A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that 78 percent of the respondents want the Vice President to testify personally in her impeachment trial.
According to Alonto Adiong, the survey result speaks a lot about the desire of the public to hear the Vice President’s explanation to the allegations, which she has refused to do from the start.
“That speaks of how the public now clamors the explanation directly from the Vice President because they think that yung unexplained wealth ay hindi lang ma-explain ito ng dokumento. They actually believe na mayroon talagang hindi tamang pag-declare ng asset ang Vice President,” Alonto Adiong said.
“That’s why the clamor for her to explain to the public, na saan galing itong kita na ito, speaks about their belief na mayroon talagang irregularity na nangyari,” Alonto Adiong also said.
Based on the testimony of the expert witness of the prosecution, financial forensic analyst Alexander Cabrera, the Vice President failed to declare a total of P817.9 million in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) from 2022 to 2025.
Alonto Adiong pointed out that the estimate made by Cabrera was actually on the conservative side.
Without any explanation on the part of the Vice President, Alonto Adiong said the public will never know why there were huge discrepancies between what she declared in her SALNs and what were uncovered through an examination of all her financial records.
“That’s why they are requesting the Vice President and that is the most important thing that you also need to focus on, the public’s clamor for the Vice President to finally explain to the public kung saan nanggaling itong discrepancy, itong butal, itong hindi na-idinedeklara, itong amount na ito na lumabas, base sa records ng kanyang mga banko, records ng kanyang corporate income na hindi na-explain,” Alonto Adiong said.
“Why hindi na-explain? Dahil wala sa SALN. So, I think that’s the most important thing also that we need to focus on, the public’s desire, the clamor for the Vice President to supply an explanation to these assets and these income that she did not declare in her SALN, as well as the ITRs that she submitted to the BIR,” Alonto Adiong also said.
On a personal note, Alonto Adiong said that he has already given up on the possibility of the Vice President appearing before her impeachment trial.
“I already gave up on that idea. Kasi consistent siya doon, hindi siya pumupunta. It will only manifest her attempt to evade hard questions. Kasi, these are hard questions,” Alonto Adiong said.
“If she continues on evading these questions and not explaining it in the impeachment court, then that will again reinforce our earlier observation that she has no accurate, she has no sufficient explanation to provide,” Alonto Adiong also said.