Prosecution expecting 'Bloodbath' from VP Sara's defense team

BARBERS SAYS

The House prosecution panel is expecting a “bloodbath” from the defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte, which is set to present their evidence before the impeachment court on November 9.

“As what the Vice President has always mentioned, we will expect a bloodbath. ‘Yan ang ine-expect natin. I’m sure they have already, they have, defense counsel has already prepared for this,” Barbers said at a press briefing.

(A bloodbath is what we expect.)

Barbers, a former Surigao del Norte representative, said Duterte’s legal team had been given ample time to prepare its defense against the remaining impeachment charge involving alleged unexplained wealth.

“Kung totoo ngang magiging bloodbath ito, ay tingnan natin,” he added.

(But as to whether it will indeed be, a bloodbath, that remains to be seen.)

Barbers was referring to the Vice President’s statement in May 2025 that she is ready for a bloodbath should her impeachment trial push through in the 20th Congress, which started on June 30, 2025.

“Sinabihan ko na rin talaga sila (defense), really, I truly want a trial because I want a bloodbath talaga,” Duterte said.

The impeachment case against the Vice President rests only on Article 2 which alleges unexplained wealth due to non-declaration of assets in the SALN and non-divestment of businesses despite Constitutional prohibition.

The House prosecution panel dropped three charges of impeachment including: Article 1 on confidential fund, Article 3 on bribery and Article 4 on grave threat to President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and his family after lawyer and certified public accountant Alex Cabrera testified that the Vice President and her husband said recorded P817 million unexplained wealth at the minimum and P1.5 billion at the maximum.

Cabrera made the conclusion after reviewing the financial records of the Vice President and her husband which include: SALNs, bank transaction and bank deposit records, insurance payment records, income tax returns and corporate records of the busines interests of the Duterte-Carpio couple.

Given such records, Barbers said that the prosecution’s evidence clearly showed that the Vice President has hundreds of millions of undeclared assets.

“For me, it would be tough to dispute the documents we presented because these documents are submissions of the Vice President and her husband. Can you change bank records? Can a witness dispute those ending balances?,” Barbers said.

“Are there records of her divesting from businesses?,” Barbers added. —VAL, GMA News