Former senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV will no longer testify on the alleged unexplained wealth of Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio, House of Representatives prosecutors told the Senate impeachment court on Thursday, a decision that came as property officials flagged discrepancies between land records and the vice-president's asset declarations.

Lead prosecutor Batangas Rep. Gerville R. Luistro announced that Mr. Trillanes had been removed from the prosecution's witness list but did not give a reason for the move.

The development followed an earlier admonition from Senator-Judge Rafael T. Tulfo, who urged the prosecution to exercise greater care in selecting its witnesses, saying several had contributed little to the proceedings.

"There are times that you bring in witnesses that are unnecessary, wasting time," he said. "So if you get a witness, make sure that the witness will say something that will really help the impeachment court's investigation."

Senator-Judge Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva, meanwhile, said the court needed bank records to verify Ms. Duterte's statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), noting that witnesses had so far been unable to adequately explain discrepancies in her declarations. SALNs are the annual disclosures required of Philippine public officials under the country's code of conduct for government workers, listing an official's assets and liabilities, including those of a spouse. That makes them the baseline document for testing whether an official's recorded wealth is accounted for by declared acquisitions.

Presiding Judge Francis Joseph G. Escudero subsequently granted Ms. Luistro's request to subpoena representatives of several banks, insurance companies, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue, setting up the documentary verification that Mr. Villanueva said witness testimony had so far failed to provide.

Property Records Under Scrutiny

The hearing featured testimony from registry officials — the custodians of official land records — on two properties in the Davao Region linked to Ms. Duterte's husband, lawyer Manases R. Carpio, which they said could not be directly matched with entries in her asset declarations.

Davao City Register of Deeds Kathy Florence M. Baldonado testified that Mr. Carpio purchased a P6-million property in Barangay Matina, Davao City, in 2024. Questioned by Mr. Escudero, she said she could not identify a corresponding entry in the vice-president's 2025 SALN.

"Nothing matched… [whether] in price, place, or mode of acquisition," she said.

The closest entry in the declaration was a house and lot in Barangay Matina Crossing valued at P3.44 million, which Ms. Duterte reported as having been donated to her in 2023. Ms. Baldonado noted that Matina Crossing is a smaller area within Barangay Matina.

Mr. Escudero acknowledged that SALNs do not always specify the exact location of real properties, but said the declared assets did not appear to account for the transaction.

"However, in the 2025 SALN of the Vice-President, there is no mention of sales of a new property to Atty. Mans Carpio in the amount of P6 million," he said.

Samal City Property

The court also examined a property in Kembali Coast, Samal City, which Mr. Carpio acquired in 2018 and which had no direct match in Ms. Duterte's 2019 SALN. Samal City Acting Register of Deeds Marco K. Pineda told the court that none of the entries in the declaration matched the deed of absolute sale, although three properties in the same area were listed at different values.

Neither Ms. Baldonado nor Mr. Pineda could explain discrepancies, saying their responsibilities were limited to processing and recording property transactions.

Ms. Baldonado also told House prosecutor Jonathan Keith T. Flores that, based solely on the documents handled by her office, she could not determine whether Ms. Duterte was a co-owner of the properties.

— Francessca S. Abalos, BusinessWorld