THE House prosecution presented on Thursday, October 1, 2026, two property titles under the name of Attorney Manases Carpio, which were allegedly not declared in the statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) of his wife, Vice President Sara Duterte.
One of the properties is a lot in Matina, Davao City, bought by Carpio for P6 million in July 2024, and another in the Island Garden City of Samal in Davao del Norte worth P3.4 million, acquired on March 15, 2018.
Davao City Register of Deeds IV Kathy Florence Baldonado confirmed the transfer of the certificate of title of the Matina property under the name of Carpio.
“Base po sa record na hawak ko, wala po sa 2025 (SALN)– wala pong nagmatch sa presyo at sa lugar at ang mode of acquisition ang nakalagay po sa 2025 ay construction at dito po sa aming dokumento ay deed of sale,” Baldonado said.
(Based on the record I have, it was not included in the 2025 SALN. Nothing matched in terms of the price and location, and the mode of acquisition indicated in the 2025 SALN was “construction,” while in our document, it is a deed of sale.)
Presiding officer Francis Escudero also confirmed that upon studying Duterte’s 2025 SALN, where the property should have been declared, it was not on the list of real properties.
This prompted defense lawyer Lindon Bacquel to make a manifestation, saying it would be “erroneous” for the impeachment court not to identify the same property in Duterte’s SALN.
“The court must take mandatory judicial notice of the geographical divisions in the Philippines that Matina Crossing is also known as Brgy 74A, which is declared in the SALN,” he said.
Escudero, however, clarified in the course of the trial that the property might not have been found in the SALN because the locations in the SALN are too generic to identify.
City of Samal Deputy Register of Deeds III Marco Pineda also presented a Deed of Absolute Sale for the property on the island, saying it did not match any of Duterte’s declarations in her 2018 SALN.
During his cross-examination, Bacquel pointed to an item in Duterte’s 2025 SALN involving a residential lot in Barangay 74-A with an acquisition cost of P10 million and an assessed value of P82,046.
He said the island garden property is listed in Duterte’s 2019 SALN as a residential lot in Barangay Matanos, Kaputian District, valued at P4.04 million, with an assessed value of P52,500. The declaration, however, states that the property was acquired in 2013. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)