Vice President Sara Duterte has not appeared in a single hearing regarding her impeachment complaints since the House Committee on Justice launched its probe into her confidential funds case in March. Now that the hearings have surfaced anomalies in her bank transactions and Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN), Duterte is preparing to travel abroad.
Malacañang Executive Secretary Ralph Recto told Inquirer on Wednesday, April 22, that the Office of the President has authorized Duterte to travel to the Netherlands, South Korea, Belgium, Germany, and the U.K. from April 23 to May 15, for a total of 22 days.
The travel authorization came just as the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) reported on Wednesday that banks had flagged P6.7 billion worth of dealings and transactions linked to Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio. During the most recent impeachment hearing, the AMLC said that P4.4 billion was brought into their accounts and P1.5 billion was transferred out, while around P791 million could not be classified as inflow or outflow. Overall, there are 33 “suspicious transactions” and 630 “covered dealings” linked to Duterte and Carpio.
The vice president’s SALN was also presented to the House justice panel on Wednesday. The documents showed that Duterte has not declared her cash on hand and cash deposits since 2019. From the beginning of her term as Davao City vice mayor in 2007 to the middle of her first term as mayor in 2018, Duterte’s liquid assets rose from P2 million to P3.7 million.
Her SALN also showed an increase in her net worth, from P7.2 million in 2007 to P88.5 million in 2024. But even with a complete record of Duterte’s net worth, Congresswoman Leila de Lima says that the missing declaration of liquid assets from 2019 onwards is “a serious threat to the veracity, transparency, and integrity of the vice president’s financial disclosures.”
Confidential Funds Under Scrutiny
On March 31, the Commission on Audit (COA) issued a Notice of Disallowance, ordering Duterte and other officials to return P375 million in confidential funds, which were incurred between February and September 2023. According to the COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office, the expenditures failed to meet the requirements for confidential fund use.
The commission found that funds were given to unauthorized individuals, that there is no documentation proving the success of purported intelligence operations, and that no official receipts or invoices were issued to support the procurement of supplies.
Instead of holding the Office of the Vice President (OVP) liable, COA listed specific officials as responsible for returning the funds, including Duterte, OVP Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta, Chief Accountant Julieta Villadelrey, and Vice Presidential Security Head Col. Raymund Dante Lachica.
