By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA — A forensic analyst has flagged ₱96 million in transactions involving a joint bank account of Vice President Sara Duterte and her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, citing a recurring movement of funds through manager’s checks that he described as a variation of “check kiting.”
Alexander Cabrera, the prosecution’s final witness in its case-in-chief, presented the transactions during the 37th day of the impeachment trial, detailing how ₱41 million and ₱55 million allegedly moved through a cycle of withdrawals and returns that left the funds absent from year-end account balances.
Cabrera testified that manager’s checks payable to the account holder were left unredeemed until they became stale, allowing the money to return to the accounts. He said the recurring transactions created a pattern in which the funds repeatedly moved out and back without appearing in the year-end balances.
“The money comes out and returns, comes out and returns. But it is always absent from the year-end balances,” Cabrera said.
To illustrate the movement, the analyst compared it to tinikling, the traditional Filipino dance in which dancers maneuver between shifting bamboo poles.
The defense objected when Cabrera referred to the transactions as a “scheme.” The presiding officer sustained the objection after the analyst clarified that his report specifically described the activity as “concealment through a variation of check kiting.”
Cabrera further testified that ₱80 million from the ₱96-million transactions was eventually used to pay for four insurance policies worth ₱20 million each.
The remaining ₱16 million, he said, continued moving through similar transactions for approximately a year and a half before a check was issued to Samuel Uy to close out the amount.
In a separate financial finding, Cabrera placed the alleged undeclared assets and income of Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio, at ₱817.87 million covering the period from 2022 to 2025.
He stressed that the amount did not represent the couple’s total net worth. Rather, it reflected the alleged underdeclaration identified in his examination and should be added to Duterte’s declared net worth in her 2025 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).
Cabrera said the computation counted each asset only once to prevent duplication. He also acknowledged that his assessment relied on limited documentation and excluded records in the couple’s possession.
The ₱96-million transactions and the separate ₱817.87-million computation formed part of the financial evidence presented by the prosecution during the impeachment proceedings.
Cabrera’s appearance marked the end of the prosecution’s presentation of witnesses in its case-in-chief, placing his financial findings on record as the impeachment trial continued.
IA/XF
