‘Numbers do not lie’: Luistro denies Sara Duterte claim of fabricated evidence

“May kasabihan tayo, numbers do not lie.”

This is how House lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro refuted Vice President Sara Duterte’s claim that the prosecution was inventing evidence to pin her on allegations of unexplained wealth.

Duterte, the frontrunner in the 2028 elections, earlier denied that she has hidden wealth after the National Bureau of Investigation released photos and videos of the Vice President’s alleged real estate properties.

“Napansin ko lang ha, lahat na lang ng illegal ay ipinapahid nila sa akin… Saan ba nagsimula? Confidential funds, corruption. Actually mayroon pa ‘yan silang tried to link us with drugs. So korapsyon, droga, ngayon mayroon silang China funds. Ngayon may ill-gotten wealth. Nag-impeachment na sila, walang ebidensyang lumabas,” Duterte said of the NBI probe.

She added: “Bumabagsak na yung kaso nila eh kaya binibilisan, kasi wala na, wala na silang masabi, nag-iimbento ka ng ebidensya.”

In response, Luistro praised the testimony of the prosecution’s expert witness, financial forensic analyst Alex Cabrera, who alleged that the Duterte couple amassed P817.87 million in undeclared wealth from 2022 to 2025, based on supposed discrepancies between her declarations in her SALN and records from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and banks.

On Monday, Cabrera said Duterte and her husband Manases Carpiocould have amassed as much as P1.5 billion in hidden wealth if he included P475 million in confidential funds plus transactions flagged by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and GenCorp Industries Inc.

“Our last witness is an expert witness whose credentials are really commendable and the forensic study depended on the pieces of evidence submitted by the different government agencies directly to the impeachment court. Paano naman nag-iimbento ‘yan?” Luistro said.

“The bank documents, the insurance documents, the BIR documents, the AMLC documents, the SEC documents, these are authentic documents submitted pursuant to a subpoena issued by the Honorable Impeachment Court.”

The lead prosecutor said it would be best if the Vice President would appear and testify in her own impeachment trial to explain the sources of her wealth.

She also refuted Duterte’s claim that the prosecution was rushing the trial because its case was falling apart. 

Prosecutors have dropped the bribery allegation against Duterte, saying it was already confident of a win based on the evidence and testimonies of witnesses in the first three articles of impeachment which accused the Vice President of hidden wealth, grave threats, and confidential fund misuse. 

Luistro added the prosecution was concerned about the impatience of the public, noting that the allegations against Duterte started as far back as 2024 “and the people have the right to witness the conclusion of all this impeachment process.”

Budget deliberations in the Senate have also necessitated a break in the impeachment trial from October 14. 

Luistro said prosecutors would seek guidance from the impeachment court if they should file the formal offer of exhibits on Tuesday before the break or after the defense’s presentation.

She noted the impeachment court could call for additional witnesses, including security officers assigned to Duterte who were not presented by the prosecution.

“Gusto naming maliwanagan kung after ba na makatawag ang impeachment court ng additional witnesses, papayagan ba ang parties mag-present ng rebuttal evidence. If the answer is yes, we believe na mas maganda na ang formal offer ay sa dulo. Pero kung hindi na papayagan, then it means that after the conclusion of the last witness of the prosecution, dapat mag-file na ng formal offer of exhibits,” she said.

Meanwhile, Luistro said the impeachment prosecution could no longer use evidence of alleged properties owned by Duterte and her husband in the trial.

She said the prosecution had none of the information presented by the NBI, adding that verifying the information and calling for additional witnesses would take time.

“Na-manifest na natin na last witness si Atty. Alex Cabrera at hindi rin ganoon kadali mag-prepare ng testigo for the presentation in the prosecution. Because you have to check first the pieces of evidence that they will be presenting before the court. E itong kila [NBI] Director Melvin [Matibag], I think it focuses on properties of the siblings. So importante makita dyan ‘yung title, ‘yung tax declaration at maaral din kung magkano ‘yung assessed value, paano na-acquire,” she said.

“We could have included them in the unexplained wealth. Relevant siya sa unexplained wealth kasi properties but the problem is – time is too tight and even until now we haven’t seen the pieces of evidence in the NBI. Pero if the question is relevance, those properties are relevant in the evidence of unexplained wealth.”