At last, a smoking gun

Vice President Sara Duterte —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

A brief but perceptible hush descended on so-called DDS circles during last week’s House impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte. It was the kind of eerie quiet that follows a sudden crack of thunder.

Perhaps, her loyalists were belatedly experiencing a moment of clarity, or, perhaps, they were smelling the smoke of a gun.

From the drama and histrionics of the preceding week, the proceedings entered math and accounting territory, one that confronted the Vice President with her own official filings as evidence. And it seems evidence more damning and damaging than those presented by her own accusers to date.

What the public witnessed on April 22 was a one-two-three punch delivered to an absent Sara Duterte on the same serendipitous day her father Rodrigo faced an unfavorable ruling at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

First, the Office of the Ombudsman revealed a logic-defying gap in her statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs), where, from 2019 onward, she seemed to have abruptly stopped declaring cash on hand.

Zero cash in bank

For five years, covering her reelection as Davao City mayor and her ascent to the vice presidency, Duterte claimed to hold nothing in liquid assets. As lawyer Karen Batu of the Ombudsman’s office told the panel, “Nothing was indicated.”

Second, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) shattered the illusion of Duterte’s empty pockets. While her SALNs from 2019 to 2024 reflected zero cash in the bank, the AMLC disclosed that accounts tied to her logged 417 transactions involving P3.92 billion from 2005 to 2026. When including her husband, Manases Carpio, the banks flagged over 600 transactions totaling P6.7 billion.

The disparity between Duterte’s SALNs and her actual bank transactions is staggering, and she “must explain it either here in the committee or in the Senate,” Akbayan party list Rep. Chel Diokno said, noting “This is the smoking gun as far as probable cause is concerned.”

Third, the nation saw the vindication of former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, whose allegations against the Dutertes were finally validated by an external party after 10 years. The AMLC confirmed that at least 18 transactions from Trillanes’ records matched their own files, bearing out the former senator and mutineer long dismissed by the Duterte camp as a peddler of recycled lies.

Furthermore, the AMLC revealed that the Dutertes were the subject of 27 confidential reports between 2024 and 2026, driven by suspicions of drug trafficking and corrupt activity.

Spectacular climb

The records showed, too, that Duterte’s net worth had performed a spectacular climb, starting at P7.25 million in 2007 and ballooning to P88.51 million by 2024. But in the years her wealth grew most aggressively, her bank deposits stayed at zero.

Mamamayang Liberal party list Rep. Leila de Lima noted that this “sudden and continuous absence of declarations of liquid assets” cast deep doubt on the accuracy of Duterte’s filings.

The VP’s lawyer Michael Poa gave an absurd explanation, saying her cash on hand had been lumped under “Others” in the SALNs. There was likewise no convincing excuse for the billions of pesos in transactions that flowed through the accounts, of which 33 were flagged “suspicious.”

Along with the Commission on Audit’s (COA) findings on the lightning-fast spending of confidential funds and Ramil Madriaga’s testimony on the transport of cash to political actors, the pieces of the puzzle are coming together and point toward a solid ground for impeachment: the amassing of unexplained wealth.

Crisis of confidence

Meanwhile, the VP is finalizing her travel plans.

Executive Secretary Ralph Recto said Duterte had been granted travel authority for a 22-day tour of Europe and Asia “at no cost to the government.” But on Thursday, Duterte said her plans had changed as a result of the late approval.

In a subsequent statement, Duterte issued another blanket denial, assailing COA for the political timing of its decisions and AMLC for corroborating Trillanes’ supposed lies.

The VP’s petulant response seems quite pedestrian for a lawyer who has bragged about her bar exam score. More than that, it represents a profound surrender of leadership in the face of a legitimate crisis of confidence. During the most critical hours of her office, the VP offers no real defense, confident in her untouchability.

As the proceedings enter the next stage, the House of Representatives and–if or when the time comes–the Senate must act with discernment. The nation will be watching to see whether the weight of the evidence will overcome the noise of politics in the partisan exercise that is impeachment.

Any way the wind blows, one thing is clear: In the face of an undeniable paper trail that has stunned her friends and foes alike, a failure by Duterte to reconcile her financial declarations and bank transactions means the smoke has indeed cleared to reveal a gun that is still warm in her hands.