Forensic financial analyst Atty. Alexander Cabrera said on Monday, Oct. 12, that the alleged unexplained wealth of Vice President Sara Duterte could have amounted to around P1.5 billion if he did not apply conservative accounting methods in his analysis of her and husband Atty. Manases “Mans” Carpio’s financial records.

Under questioning by Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero, Cabrera said that the P817.87 million estimated value of Duterte’s unexplained wealth that he presented before the Senate impeachment court was just a “bare minimum” estimate and that the real total could be as much as nearly double that amount.

“Kung hindi po kayo conservative, kung ito po yung bare minimum, in your expertise and based on your review of the documents, ano po ba yung sukdulang hangganan?” Escudero asked.

Pressed by Escudero to compute the new estimate, Cabrera said the upper limit of his audit of Duterte and Carpio’s finances would have been around “mga less than P1.6 [billion] po ‘yun, mga P1.5 [billion] po.”

Escudero sought confirmation on the new calculation, asking Cabrera, “P1.5 billion will be the maximum estimate of the undeclared wealth of the respondent from 2022 to 2025 without any double booking? Magkakaiba pong amount sa kada taon pag sinumatotal niyo, yun po yung magiging ceiling.”

“Tama po,” Cabrera confirmed.

Confidential funds left out

Cabrera noted that several substantial amounts were deliberately excluded from the computation he initially presented to the court, including hundreds of millions of pesos in confidential funds.

“Hindi ko po sinama ang confidential funds po. So P475 [million] po yun,” Cabrera testified. “Yung discrepancy po namin sa AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council), kung susundin po natin yung AMLC at hindi po kami conservative, P100 million po yun.”

Cabrera was referring to the confidential funds allocated for the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education when Duterte was its secretary, which she is accused of systematically misusing, irregularly disbursing, and improperly liquidating a total of P612.5 million across the two agencies.

He continued, “Kung hindi po ako conservative sa GenCorp, 45 percent ang ginamit. At i-apply niyo rin po yun dun po sa mga undeclared sales. Ang impact po noon ay mga P250 million. So P350 million plus P450 million is mga P700 [million] po. So parang halos magdodoble po yung amount po.”

Cabrera was referring to GenCorp Industries Inc., a company that Duterte declared shares in according to her Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs).

A witness from the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System previously testified that GenCorp P34.2 million in contracts with the local government of Davao City under her brother, Mayor Sebastian Duterte.

When Escudero asked how that figure should be characterized, Cabrera affirmed that this still falls under the definition of “unexplained wealth.”

“That will be unexplained wealth po. Kasi po yung confidential funds po, kahit alam po natin ang pinanggalingan, so parang may explained po. Pero pag ang pinanggalingan po ay hindi po legal, nagiging unexplained din po siya kahit alam nyo po kung saan ang galing,” Cabrera said.

Earlier in his interjection, Escudero methodically dissected Cabrera’s conservative baseline figure of P817,874,867, verifying the mathematical weight of each component.

He calculated that GenCorp accounted for P212,629,718, or roughly 25.9 percent of the total, while Metro City Chow Foods Corp. and Cale88 Foods Corp. — owned by Carpio — together accounted for P142,198,690, or 17.3 percent.

“So pag tinanggal ko po yung dalawang yun, may maiwan pa rin 56.6 percent mula sa inyong calculation o yung base sa bank accounts, sa insurance policies, ang maiwan po ay P463,046,459 na unexplained wealth base po sa computation niyo,” Escudero said.

“Kung wala po yung mga corporation po,” Cabrera agreed.IMT