House prosecutor and Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said Vice President Sara Duterte’s reported P88.5-million net worth in 2024 cannot be properly examined without tracing her financial records back to 2007, the year she entered public service.
Ridon made the statement as he opposed the defense panel’s position that records before 2022 should be excluded from the unexplained wealth article in Duterte’s impeachment trial.
According to him, limiting the review to Duterte’s years as vice president would give an incomplete picture of how her assets were accumulated over time.
“You cannot reach P88.5 million in 2024 without actually understanding where that P88.5 million started,” Ridon said.
He said records predating 2022, including Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) from 2007 onward, are relevant because they could show Duterte’s income as a public official, the assets she acquired over the years, and the liabilities declared in her financial disclosures.
Ridon said Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) records are also important because they may be compared with Duterte’s SALNs from 2007 to 2024 to establish a more complete financial profile.
He said the prosecution intends to examine Duterte’s 2024 net worth against her income net of taxes, BIR documents, Anti-Money Laundering Council reports, and bank records that may be opened during the trial proper.
These documents, he said, would help determine whether Duterte’s declared wealth is consistent with her lawful income and financial declarations.
Ridon added that the evidence could also show whether certain assets or entries were omitted from Duterte’s SALNs over the years, including cash declarations and firearms declarations, which he said are required under the SALN law.
He described the prosecution’s evidence as serving two purposes: establishing the broader financial picture of the vice president and identifying possible omissions in her asset declarations.
Asked what the prosecution would do if the defense insists that only records from 2022 onward should be considered, Ridon said the panel would stand by its evidence.
“They can insist all they want, but that is our evidence,” he said.
Ridon said it will ultimately be up to the Senate impeachment court to determine the weight and relevance of the prosecution’s financial records during the trial.