Sara calls trial ‘sarswela’ as hard evidence pile up

VP Sara Duterte called her impeachment trial a “sarswela” where proof of her hidden wealth mounted.

House prosecutors rebuked her for her second belittling of the Senate impeachment court. “Sarswela” is Filipino for the zarzuela Saramusical theater of the late 1800s to early 1900s. It’s also metaphor for “theatrics, histrionics.”

The past two weeks’ hearings focused on Sara’s yearly statements of assets, liabilities and net worth, 2007-2025. Those covered her terms as Davao city vice mayor, mayor and VP.

Sara’s SALNs list 18 businesses that she and/or her spouse Manases Carpio incorporated in those years. Senator-judges and congressman-prosecutors noted three possible constitutional and legal breaches:

• Article VII, Executive Department, Section 13 bans the President, VP, Cabinet secretaries, Usecs, Asecs from “holding any other employment … participate in any business or be financially interested in any contract with the government.”

VP Sara was an active board director and even compensation committee member in some of the companies. Those were in General Information Sheets and Audited Financial Statements submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“She did not divest from private business when she became VP in 2022,” said prosecution spokesman Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong.

• Sara’s net worth ballooned 1,280 percent. The P7,150,497 in 2007 rose to P98,656,131.20 in 2025.

This couldn’t have been from business income. The companies’ GIS and AFS submissions showed either meager annual income or losses.

Perusing the documents, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian noted that the firms did not pay out cash, stock or property dividends. “Hindi pwedeng manggaling sa mga corporations niya ‘yong paglaki ng kanyang net worth. By process of elimination, pwede na nating i-rule out ‘yong corporations,” he said.

Coming hearings will bare Sara’s P4.4-billion bank deposits. The Anti-Money Laundering Council presented those in March to the House committee on justice.

• In her SALNs as VP in 2022 to 2025, Sara claimed to be stockholder of GenCorp Industries Inc. But the firms’ SEC records do not mention her. Listed instead as 55 percent owner is JTC Group.

Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo elicited info that JTC stands for Jaime Tan Cruz, Davao city doctor-businessman. Cruz was special envoy to China of Sara’s father ex-president Rody Duterte.

JTC Group bagged 15 contracts worth P14.32 million from Davao City Hall, Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System records.

Sara’s brother Mayor Sebastian Duterte corrected the figures in his Facebook page and testimony: JTC Group got 19 contracts worth P33,263,161 since he became mayor in 2022.

Sebastian disavowed knowledge of Sara’s interest in GenCorp. He doesn’t pry into her private activities, he said.

He found nothing wrong with GenCorp’s frequent bagging of city hall contracts. He admitted being partner of Jaime Tan Cruz in three businesses, and his brother Rep. Paolo Duterte in one of those.

Sara’s declared ownership of contractor GenCorp is self-incriminatory, said trial lawyer Howard Calleja. The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Section 3, prohibits public officers from:

“(h) Directly or indirectly having financial or pecuniary interest in any business, contract or transaction in connection with which he intervenes or takes part in his official capacity, or in which he is prohibited by the Constitution or by any law from having any interest;

“(i) Directly or indirectly becoming interested, for personal gain, or having a material interest in any transaction or act requiring the approval of a board, panel or group of which he is a member, and which exercises discretion in such approval, even if he votes against the same or does not participate in the action of the board, committee, panel or group.”

In a Sept. 25 press interview, Sara was asked about attending the hearings. “Anong ibig-sabihin Ma’am, manood ako doon sa kanilang sarswela?” she retorted, adding that her lawyers’ attendance signifies her presence in the legal proceedings.

Sara’s “sarswela” remark is contemptuous, said House prosecution private spokesman Benjamin Tolosa Jr.: “Hindi lang ito violation ng sub judice rule. These statements are inflammatory and attack the integrity of the court.”

Prosecution adviser ex-congressman Ace Barbers said Sara’s statement “should not be allowed to pass without scrutiny, particularly since she had previously questioned the proceedings.”

On Sept. 7, the Office of the Vice President posted on Facebook Sara’s video message. She said, among others: “Hawak man ni Marcos ang mga senador, piskal, huwes at mga pulis, napakaraming abogado naman ang tumutulong sa akin upang ipaglaban at mapanalo ang mga kasong ito.”

That day’s hearing exposed the fake identities of payees of P612.5-million confidential funds of the OVP and DepEd.

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