ONE CHARGE LEFT: Why prosecutors are betting Sara Duterte’s trial on one article

MANILA — Confident that the evidence of PHP 817 million in alleged undeclared assets and unexplained wealth is enough to convict Vice President Sara Duterte, the House prosecution panel on Tuesday moved to pursue only Article II and drop all other impeachment charges.

“The prosecution believes it has presented sufficient evidence for Article II to stand on its own.

“All in po tayo dito,” House lead prosecutor Rep. Gerville Luistro said.

“We believe the evidence is substantial and compelling and warrants the respondent’s removal from office for culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust.”

Atty. Sheila Sison, who leads the defense panel for Duterte, did not object to Luistro’s motion.

“If that’s the call of the prosecution to withdraw certain articles from the articles of impeachment, that is their lookout and that is their prerogative.

“Now, whatever will be the consequence of that decision will be or would be for them to bear alone and not for the respondent.

“So it’s not an objection to the withdrawal of those articles,” Sison told the court after Luistro’s motion.

The prosecution panel moved to drop all but Article II of the Articles of Impeachment, with Luistro saying that this “is the most judicious course consistent with the evidence and our duty to the nation.”

Luistro added that the motion to keep just one article is precedented, citing a similar maneuver by prosecutors in the impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona.

“That precedent recognizes the prosecution’s privilege to determine which articles to pursue and which to drop,” Luistro said.

The Senate convicted Corona on May 29, 2012, by a vote of 20-3 on Article II of the complaint against him, which involved his failure to disclose his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth.

In pursuing only Article II, the prosecution is dropping Article I on the alleged misuse of confidential funds, Article III on allegations of bribery, and Article IV on the alleged threats made by Duterte against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Under the Constitution, conviction in an impeachment trial requires the votes of two-thirds of all members of the Senate, or 16 of 24 senators.

Throughout the presentation of the prosecution’s witnesses and documents supporting the charge under Article II, it was shown that the Vice President and her husband, Atty. Manases “Mans” Carpio, amassed around PHP 817.87 million in unexplained wealth under the most conservative estimate.

Veteran forensic financial expert Atty. Alexander Cabrera told the court that the figure could rise to around PHP 1.5 billion if he had not applied conservative accounting methods in analyzing the financial records of Duterte and Carpio.

In his submission to the impeachment court, Cabrera said the couple had a total of PHP 817,874,867 in unexplained wealth from 2022 to 2025, covering allegedly undeclared cash, personal and real properties, and computed undeclared income of the couple as well as of several corporate entities.

The highest annual figure was recorded in 2024 at PHP 264,217,123, followed by PHP 195,692,505 in 2025, PHP 190,628,012 in 2022, and PHP 167,337,227 in 2023, totaling PHP 817,874,867.

In cash alone, the combined amount identified as undeclared over the four-year period reached PHP 207,696,933, comprising PHP 60,214,776 in 2022, PHP 80,701,151 in 2023, PHP 23,169,077 in 2024, and PHP 43,611,929 in 2025.

Beyond cash, Cabrera identified PHP 143,497,177 in allegedly undeclared other personal and real properties, net of deductions, consisting of PHP 76,147,730 in 2022, PHP 3,934,560 in 2023, PHP 52,016,994 in 2024, and PHP 11,397,893 in 2025.

On the couple’s combined income, Cabrera’s examination calculated PHP 111,852,349 in allegedly undeclared earnings, with an annual breakdown of PHP 50,474,511 in 2022, PHP 12,198,235 in 2023, PHP 28,030,203 in 2024, and PHP 21,149,400 in 2025.

Substantial amounts were likewise highlighted in the analysis of the corporate entities Cale88, Metro City Chow, and GenCorp Industries.

For Cale88 and Metro City Chow, the computed undeclared income totaled PHP 142,198,690, broken down into PHP 3,790,995 in 2022, PHP 14,788,989 in 2023, PHP 86,944,369 in 2024, and PHP 36,674,337 in 2025.

For GenCorp Industries, computed undeclared income reached PHP 212,629,718 over three years, consisting of PHP 55,714,292 in 2023, PHP 74,056,480 in 2024, and PHP 82,858,946 in 2025, with no amount recorded for 2022.