Akbayan Party-list Rep. Chel Diokno on Thursday said the large discrepancy between Vice President Sara Duterte’s declared wealth and the transactions flagged in an Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) report points to a possible “smoking gun” in the ongoing impeachment proceedings.

In a media interview, Diokno said Duterte must explain the gap between what she declared in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) and the billions of pesos in transactions identified in the AMLC findings submitted to the House Committee on Justice.

“Kailangang ipaliwanag ni Vice President Sara Duterte ‘yung lumabas sa report ng AMLC kumpara sa mga idineklara niya sa kanyang SALN (Vice President Sara Duterte should explain the gap between the AMLC report and what she declared in her SALN),” Diokno said.

Diokno noted that the net inflow that passed through her accounts, as disclosed by the AMLC during Wednesday’s impeachment hearing, reached PHP2.87 billion.

He also pointed out that records from the Office of the Ombudsman show she declared a net worth of only PHP88.5 million in her latest SALN for 2024.

“Napakalaki ng pagkakaiba, ang discrepancy ng dalawang halaga na ‘yan at either dito sa committee o kaya sa Senado kung ‘yan ang kagustuhan niya, ay dapat ipaliwanag niya (There’s a big difference, the discrepancy between the two amounts, and she must explain them either to the House committee or to the Senate if she wishes),” Diokno said.

“Para sa akin ito’y isang (For me, this is a) smoking gun, at least insofar as probable cause is concerned,” he added.

The lawmaker emphasized that the issue goes to the heart of allegations of unexplained wealth, one of the key grounds raised in the impeachment complaints against the Vice President.

Diokno also rejected arguments that only transactions during Duterte’s term as Vice President are relevant, stressing that earlier financial activities remain material if they relate to assets that should have been declared.

“Hindi natin mahihiwalay ‘yung nangyari noon bilang lingkod bayan sa nangyari ngayon lalo na ‘yung nakita natin na ganoon kalalaking bilyon-bilyong piso pala ang dumaan sa mga accounts nila (We cannot separate what happened then as a civil servant and what happened now especially when we saw that billions of pesos have passed through their accounts),” he said.

In Wednesday’s hearing, lawyer Karen Batu of the Central Records Division of the Office of the Ombudsman presented a consolidated timeline of Duterte’s SALNs from 2007 to 2024.

The records showed her declared net worth rising from PHP7.25 million in 2007 to PHP88.51 million in 2024, with intermediate increases to PHP22.11 million in 2012, PHP34.89 million in 2016, PHP49.69 million in 2018, and PHP55.61 million in 2019. (PNA)