(L-R) Combination of file photos featuring House Committee on Justice Chairperson Rep. Gerville Luistro (2nd District, Batangas), former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, Vice President Sara Duterte, and House Committee on Justice member Rep. Terry Ridon (Bicol Saro) during past legislative hearings conducted separately at the House of Representatives. (Courtesy: House of Representatives)

After completing its first impeachment hearing on the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds, the House Committee on Justice will turn its attention to Vice President Sara Duterte’s alleged unexplained wealth during its next session on April 22.

Committee chairperson Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro said the next focus will be on Duterte’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) furnished by the Ombudsman as well as corporate and tax records from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Ahead of next Wednesday’s hearing, the House committee granted motions to subpoena the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and former senator Antonio Trillanes to testify on allegedly anomalous or suspicious bank transactions of the Vice President from 2006 to 2025.

Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima said Trillanes’ testimony before the 19th Congress House Quad Comm on the bank accounts of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his immediate family, including Sara Duterte, would be relevant to establishing probable cause.

Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said the committee limited its subpoena to flagged bank transactions of Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio, because the unexplained wealth allegation is anchored on the Vice President’s SALN.

He said extending the subpoena to other members of Duterte’s family would not be necessary.

The impeachment complaints have accused Duterte of having deposited at least P111 million across various banks in Davao City and Metro Manila from 2006 to 2015. They said the amount was grossly disproportionate to Duterte’s salary as former vice mayor and mayor of Davao City.

They also alleged that Duterte’s net worth ballooned from P13.8 million in 2007 to P44.8 million in 2017, despite having an estimated annual salary of only around P2 million.

Earlier on Tuesday, an official of the Philippine Statistics Authority told the House committee that hundreds of names listed in acknowledgment receipts tied to the confidential funds issue yielded negative results in the agency’s civil registry records, putting renewed focus on the authenticity of the documents used to support the liquidation of public money.

Marizza Grande, Assistant National Statistician, said based on its December 8, 2024 certification, out of 677 names submitted for verification, 405 had no record of birth or certificate of live birth, 507 had no record of death or certificate of death, 443 had no record of marriage or certificate of marriage, and 398 unique persons had no record of birth, marriage, and death in PSA records.

As for its December 11, 2024, Grande said out of 1,922 names submitted, some 1,322 had no record of birth or certificate of live birth, 1,593 had no record of death or certificate of death, 1,456 had no record of marriage or certificate of marriage, and 1,287 unique persons had no record of birth, marriage, or death according to PSA records.

Grande said there were no corresponding records of birth, marriage, or death in the PSA database for the names Mary Grace Piattos, Milky Secuya, and Kokoy Villamin who were among the beneficiaries listed. — Maricel Cruz