House to examine VP’s ‘unexplained wealth’ on April 22

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April 16, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — After completing its first clarificatory hearing on Vice President Sara Duterte’s alleged bribery and misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds, the House committee on justice will turn its attention to her alleged unexplained wealth at its next hearing on April 22.

“We intend to focus for the next hearing on the allegations of unexplained wealth and that is why the ombudsman, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) were not asked in today’s hearing,” House committee on justice chair and Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville Luistro said at a press conference Tuesday night.

The committee has also granted motions to subpoena the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and former senator Antonio Trillanes IV to testify on anomalous or suspicious bank transactions from 2006 to 2025.

“Tackling the unexplained wealth and SALN (statement of assets, liabilities and net worth) issues are part of the hearing. The SALN of our Vice President, their ITR (income tax return) submission, their bank transactions, if the AMLC will see anything, will be discussed. The last will be the details of former senator Sonny Trillanes,” House public accounts panel chair and Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said.

Ridon explained that 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.

Tuesday’s justice committee hearing brought together several resource persons, including self-confessed Duterte bagman Ramil Madriaga, his notary public and representatives from the Commission on Audit, House records, Philippine Statistics Authority and the National Bureau of Investigation.

The impeachment complaints accuse Duterte of having deposited at least P111 million across various banks in Davao City and Metro Manila from 2006 to 2015. This was an amount complainants found grossly disproportionate to her salary as former vice mayor and mayor of Davao City.

Her net worth also allegedly ballooned from P13.8 million in 2007 to P44.8 million in 2017, despite having an estimated annual salary of only P2 million.

For a University of the Philippines College of Law professor, Madriaga’s decision to waive his bank secrecy rights boosts his credibility as a witness.

“If we look at it, our politicians will do everything to block the opening of their bank accounts… If his point is that this is happening regularly and he is a bagman, then it will be reflected in the bank accounts. If it’s true, if those bank accounts are exposed, it’s better to examine if his testimony is credible,” UP College of Law associate dean and assistant professor Paolo Emmanuel Tamase told radio dzMM.

Former Senate president Franklin Drilon praised the Supreme Court for its non-issuance of a temporary restraining order and allowing the impeachment cases to proceed thus far. –Bella Cariaso, Delon Porcalla, Neil Jayson Servallos