Financial expert Atty. Alexander “Alex” Cabrera stood his ground during cross-examination before the Senate impeachment court on Monday, declaring he was unbothered by defense warnings regarding potential violations of bank secrecy and tax confidentiality laws.
Cross-examining Cabrera on behalf of Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense team, Atty. Kristine Ferrer cited penal provisions under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, the Bank Secrecy Law, and Section 270 of the National Internal Revenue Code regarding the unauthorized receipt of financial and taxpayer records.
“This is not meant to scare you, sir,” Ferrer told the witness, to which Cabrera responded, “I’m not scared naman po.”
When pressed on whether receiving bank and tax documents without explicit court authorization raised legal concerns for him, Cabrera pointed out that the records had already been admitted and debated before the House of Representatives. He further cited Section 8 of Republic Act No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act), which mandates taking bank deposits into account when evaluating property manifestly disproportionate to a public official’s lawful income.
“Hindi ko po problema maging concerned po doon. Tatanggapin ko lang po yung document at akin pong i-examine at bibigyan po ng analysis,” Cabrera maintained, reiterating his role as an independent forensic examiner.
The tense exchange follows warnings from Duterte’s legal team suggesting that journalists, lawmakers, and witnesses could face liability over privacy breaches, a stance previously admonished by Senator-Judges Vicente Sotto III, Francis Pangilinan and Risa Hontiveros, leading defense counsel Atty. Mark Vinluan to issue a formal apology to the court.
Testifying as a prosecution witness, Cabrera, a veteran lawyer, Certified Public Accountant and forensic specialist, presented a comprehensive financial analysis alleging that Vice President Duterte and her husband, Mans Carpio, accumulated P817,874,867 in total undeclared wealth from 2022 to 2025.
According to Cabrera’s breakdown, the figure includes P207.7 million in undeclared cash, P143.5 million in real and personal properties and P111.9 million in combined personal income. The examination also cited P354.8 million in total computed undeclared income tied to corporate entities Cale88, Metro City Chow and GenCorp Industries over the same four-year period.