October 12, 2026

Atty. Alexander B. Cabrera, a lawyer and CPA appearing as the prosecution's forensic-accounting witness, continued under his earlier oath and defended his October 2 report estimating P817,874,867 in unexplained wealth for 2022-2025. Defense cross-examination ended, the prosecution declined redirect, and senator-judge questions followed before the court excused him.

Cabrera described a review of SALNs, property records, corporate financial statements and franchises, AMLC remittance material, insurance and investment information, income-tax returns and their attached financial statements. His corporate examination concentrated on Metro City Chow Foods Corporation, GenCorp Industries Inc. and Cale88 Foods Corporation.

Cabrera compared bank balances against SALN cash declarations, using zero where no cash item appeared. He accepted that cash might be classified elsewhere but said that would not remove the total-property discrepancy. He combined the spouses' property under SALN requirements and presumed absolute community, saying no contrary marital-property documents had been supplied. His team compared accounts, used multiple reviewers and traced fresh inflows to avoid duplicate annual balances.

Cabrera assumed a 20% GenCorp interest from Duterte's SALN declaration and business relationships, acknowledging no document specifying her percentage. Using five Jollibee franchises at P35 million each, he attributed P35 million of the P175 million estimated investment to her. Annual P35 million rows represented continuing nondeclaration and were counted once in P817 million. He had no franchise agreements or store-opening data.

Cabrera used corporate-veil piercing to attribute undeclared income to shareholders, relying on tax fraud and leaving that approach for the senator-judges to evaluate. He could not establish that corporate outflows reached the spouses personally. He attributed Cale88 advances using the spouse's 47.5% interest and corporate statements, without loan documents, and described the amount as a receivable requiring SALN disclosure.

In substantive questioning, Sen. Francis "Chiz" G. Escudero separated P212,629,718 attributed to GenCorp and P142,198,690 to Metro City Chow/Cale88 from P463,046,459 remaining in the bank-and-insurance calculation. Cabrera agreed the latter excluded corporate components. Asked for a less conservative ceiling, he estimated roughly P1.5 billion using excluded confidential funds, the AMLC discrepancy and a higher GenCorp ownership assumption; he agreed payable taxes and other liabilities would be deducted.

Cabrera acknowledged possible repeated compensation and said correcting the roughly P14.37 million addition would increase his unexplained-wealth estimate. He could not reconcile differing wealth and tax table amounts on the spot. He later called the earlier P250 million GenCorp tax discussion theoretical, read the report's P158.036 million basic-tax total for individuals and corporations, and promised reconciliation. Tax figures were outside the P817 million wealth computation.

Cabrera said paired transactions reduced the Cale88 foreign-remittance figure from AMLC's P319 million to P222 million in his report. He had no foreign-currency deposit statements and could not trace conversion or destination. He described weak inventories, equipment and operating disclosures relative to Cale88's reported scale, and called rapid pass-throughs money-laundering symptoms while expressly declining a money-laundering conclusion.

Cabrera acknowledged that Duterte had not signed the manager's-check applications and the transactions preceded 2022. He called repeated year-end movement concealment and said self-payable checks created SALN receivables. Credit-card spending discussed was flagged for investigation and excluded from P817 million. He had interviewed neither spouse nor their accountants or auditor, and his report had no PwC review or endorsement.

Sen. Erwin Tulfo played footage he described as drawn from an NBI press conference and media reports about properties. Cabrera required title, address, area and related records before identifying them or deciding whether they were already declared or included in P817 million. Diokno had not seen the video and undertook to check it.

Sen. Raffy T. Tulfo explored money laundering through legitimate, tax-paying businesses and country risks, then asked whether Cale88's exports, receivables, payables, equipment and utility costs matched its reported scale. Cabrera described missing inventories and implausible cash-only transactions, comparing its small plant and equipment with similar exporters. He had only asked prosecutors about Customs records; Diokno said the prosecution lacked time to obtain export data. Returning to Cale88, Tulfo questioned recurring losses alongside large inflows and hiring, missing raw materials and P125,000 paid-up capital. Cabrera allowed outsourced manufacturing theoretically but found no supporting arrangement and described the scale as implausible. He called money entering and leaving without business use a money-laundering symptom, while expressly declining a conclusive attribution. Tulfo contrasted GenCorp's roughly P1.25 million capital and small reported earnings with costly, expanding Jollibee franchises; Cabrera suggested unrecorded equity and cash flows funding expansion, with reduced taxes explaining underreporting. On Metro City Chow, Tulfo asked why deposits exceeded restaurant collections and where the excess originated. Cabrera treated it as unreported revenue but lacked information to identify other sources, saying such disparities were unusual at this scale. Tulfo discussed double books and proposed comparing deposits with sales, potentially involving AMLC. Asked why BIR had not detected the discrepancy, Cabrera said he did not know and lacked investigation-status information.

Sen. Joel Villanueva questioned duplicated declared income, mismatches between wealth and tax tables, and whether corporate money reached the spouses personally. Cabrera acknowledged possible repeated compensation; he said correcting the roughly PHP14.37 million addition would increase his unexplained-wealth estimate. He could not identify the table mismatch immediately, promised reconciliation, and could not establish personal receipt of corporate outflows. Asked what respondent documents he needed, he said genuine liabilities would be deducted and contrary evidence could change his report. Returning to Cale88, Villanueva asked whether transfers, duplicate entries, financing and currency conversion had been eliminated. Cabrera said paired transactions reduced AMLC's PHP319 million figure to PHP222 million, but unidentified credit memos remained. Villanueva examined inventories, shareholder financing, the average 51% understatement, staffing and outsourcing. Cabrera described missing raw-material and work-in-process inventory, advances insufficient for the reported scale, and no disclosed outsourcing; he allowed that direct labor might appear in manufacturing costs. He said the 51% averaged four years and described equipment, staffing, electricity and receivable/payable cycles as operational checks. Diokno said official workforce confirmations were incomplete; Ferrer reserved the defense's response to the GIS entries. Villanueva also tested Pikimong-Pikimong's small capital and assets against the reported Cale88 acquisition. Cabrera found no corresponding acquisition activity or purchase-price/payment records. He said an existing shareholding could transfer on credit, but tax clearance, financial-statement entries and other transaction records were required; a GIS alone was insufficient.

Sen. Erwin Tulfo asked whether properties shown in footage he described as coming from that morning's NBI press conference and media reporting appeared in Duterte's SALN or Cabrera's PHP817 million estimate. With the chair's permission, he played the video and asked whether one property matched an agricultural-land entry with a PHP200,000 acquisition cost. Cabrera said he needed the title, address, area and related records to identify it. He could not determine whether the properties were already declared or included in his calculation, and said they might be among declared properties. Tulfo then asked the prosecution about titles and requested a cross-check of the NBI account. Diokno said the documents he recalled having were SALNs describing declared real properties; he had not seen the video and undertook to review it.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked about documentary foundations and duplicate counting; Cabrera cited SALNs, corporate, tax, insurance and AMLC records, distinct accounts, team review, fresh ending balances, and conservative franchise capital estimates. He said reclassifying cash as other personal property would not remove the discrepancy, and combined spousal wealth under SALN requirements and presumed absolute community, citing accountability. Asked about corporate attribution and unexplained wealth, he invoked veil piercing, substantial underreporting, disproportionate assets and repetition; Hontiveros described veil piercing as preventing abuse. On manager's-check cycling, Cabrera characterized year-end repetition as concealment while acknowledging Duterte's missing signatures and pre-2022 timing. He described rapid corporate pass-throughs as money-laundering symptoms, expressly declining a money-laundering conclusion. Hontiveros questioned P41 million withdrawn on August 6, 2024 within 73 minutes; Cabrera considered the pace unusual and inferred urgency and avoidance of a document trail. Asked about P319 million in China remittances to Cale88, he said peso/dollar conversion was untraced and he had no supported theory of their destination.

Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan examined the timing of the P41 million withdrawal against Duterte's departure from DepEd and reported drug charges against her husband; Cabrera identified the accounts as Carpio's and later agreed the withdrawal was a major factor in the 2024 balance decline. He asked about four safe-deposit boxes closed together; Cabrera knew neither their contents nor a resulting finding, although cash could theoretically be stored there. On repeated self-payable manager's checks, Cabrera said the practice was new to him and that P96 million should still appear as SALN receivables, which he had not found declared. Pangilinan questioned Cale88's transfer to a minimally capitalized holding company; Cabrera retained Carpio's ownership in his analysis because he found no recorded transfer and said unpaid subscriptions further obstructed transfer of title. Cabrera corrected the Cale88 figures to an underdeclaration accumulated across years and P222 million in his report, distinguished from the P319 million Pangilinan associated with AMLC records; he had not found peso-to-dollar transfers. Asked how GenCorp financed rapid revenue and equipment growth on P1.25 million paid-in capital, Cabrera could not identify the source, attributed it to shareholders or others rather than operations, and described large inflows and outflows adding little business value. Pangilinan requested separate cash-and-check deposit totals; Cabrera had no inventory but said one could be prepared, and confirmed the balances were absent from the SALN. Returning to account ownership and business interests, Pangilinan elicited 37 bank accounts and 19 insurance investments; Cabrera said check copies were incomplete, identified Carpio as a personal-check signatory, had not checked corporate signatories, and considered shareholding and directorship business interests. Asked to reconcile a P250 million GenCorp tax estimate with P158.036 million basic tax for individuals and corporations over four years, Cabrera called the former theoretical and undertook to reconcile them later. Pangilinan also questioned the companies' external-audit opinions and management restrictions on cash and inventory verification; Cabrera said his experience supported an adverse opinion, explained that a clean opinion requires satisfactory records, and described screening clients and avoiding self-audit when helping repair books.

Sen. Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson asked how much Cabrera relied on analytical assumptions versus documents. Cabrera could not quantify that reliance; his 60/40 estimate concerned work time. Asked whether absent documents favored or harmed the respondent, he called their absence evidence of behavior. Lacson noted check payees omitted from the report, withholding his own conclusions; Cabrera said the reviewed data already supported his P817 million estimate but further documents could expand it. Lacson also sought clarification on using exhibits not discussed in testimony; Escudero said they must be formally offered and admitted. Later, Lacson corrected the SALN discussion, citing RA 6713: real-property acquisition and improvements were included, unlike improvements to personal property. He described Cabrera's franchise estimate as conservative, citing higher 2025 costs from his stated ChatGPT reference. Lacson then clarified the witness's rationale for potentially including excluded confidential funds under Martinez v. Sandiganbayan as funds presumed diverted to personal use when unliquidated; no separate witness answer followed. Finally, he proposed resuming after lunch for the anticipated half-day sitting. Escudero said that was possible and Diokno expressed no objection; the 1 p.m. suspension was subsequently ordered on Sotto's motion.

Sen. Manuel “Lito” M. Lapid asked the prosecution to explain plainly what the public should understand from Article 2's many witnesses, documents and figures. Diokno answered that an honest official hides nothing and said Cabrera's bank, AMLC, BIR and SEC analysis supplied the documentary basis for the unexplained-wealth allegation. He characterized bank records sent directly to the court as independently verifiable and framed the case around the public's trust, fitness for office and accountability for abuse of power. Lapid thanked him, saying the public had been asking about the issue.

Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino tested two premises in Table 39: Duterte's assumed 20% GenCorp ownership and the attribution of undisclosed corporate money to shareholders rather than other uses. Cabrera cited her SALN, past partnerships and ownership percentages, and significant-influence concepts; he described corporate-veil piercing as his judgment for the senator-judges to evaluate. Asked about distribution, he said concealed, untaxed income was usually shared by owners without declaring dividends. Aquino separated bank and insurance records from ownership attribution. Cabrera identified ending cash balances, properties including insurance investments, and outflows not retained in cash or converted into property; corporate income occupied separate columns. He said Duterte held 20% of Metro City Chow and Carpio 47.5% of Cale88, while GenCorp's 20% was assumed; Metro City Chow and Cale88 still involved veil piercing. Removing the rounded PHP211 million GenCorp component left roughly PHP606 million. Cabrera agreed the GenCorp figure could rise or fall once actual ownership was established. When Cabrera suggested excluded confidential funds of about PHP475 million could replace the removed amount, Aquino insisted that the final number follow the evidence and returned to examining each component.

Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian asked whether GenCorp's inflows exceeding sales could be loans, advances or pass-through funds. Cabrera said no corresponding liabilities were recorded, estimated P250 million in basic tax exposure and supported proportional shareholder responsibility through corporate veil piercing. Asked for jurisprudence, he promised the case identifier later. Gatchalian questioned preferring the SALN over the GIS and identifying nominees; Cabrera cited the sworn declaration, business relationships, ownership thresholds, beneficial-owner disclosures and his hypothesis about Davao contracts. He also estimated about P25 million in tax exposure for Metro City Chow and P5-6 million for Cale88. Comparing Cale88's roughly P700 million AMLC inflows with P247 million in the report, Gatchalian elicited possible duplicate tagging through currency conversion and the distinction between foreign-currency and local accounts. He traced the manager's-check/time-deposit pattern into insurance; after checking, Cabrera said the insurance had not entered the SALN. Asked where roughly P111 million attributed as personal income originated, Cabrera said he lacked source documents and explained his income inference through excluded transfers, undeclared trust liabilities and restrictions on gifts, citing a 35% individual rate. Returning to GenCorp, Gatchalian contrasted estimated P175 million for five franchises with P1.25 million recorded capital and no shareholder advances, asking about income and SALN understatement motives. Cabrera suggested tax avoidance and possible SALN undervaluation, said operating income could not explain expansion, and said he lacked information to conclude a broader motive.

Sen. Camille Villar traced the report's P76.1 million 2022 noncash-property figure through insurance, business capital and shareholder advances, less SALN declarations. She focused on the P35 million GenCorp contribution attributed to the Vice President: five franchises valued at the website's P35 million minimum, multiplied by an assumed 20% interest. Cabrera called that sensitivity analysis based on historical partnerships, with GenCorp separated for the judges' evaluation; he had no paperwork stating the ownership percentage or data on store-opening dates. Villar asked whether acquisition costs could be lower and whether franchise agreements or other documents supported the estimate. Cabrera maintained his conservative minimum but said he had no agreements or additional supporting documents beyond the receipts. Villar raised loans or other funding as alternatives and challenged certainty that the respondent contributed P35 million; Cabrera reiterated that it was attributed capital.

Sen. Pia S. Cayetano challenged the assumed 20% GenCorp interest: Cabrera cited comparable partnerships and significant influence, acknowledged no doctrine automatically transfers percentages across companies, and accepted different holdings as possible. She raised a smaller or donated stake; Cabrera said donations required disclosure and were restricted. Cabrera clarified that the P35 million entry represented 20% of five franchises and remained annually undeclared, but was counted once in P817 million. Cayetano challenged the inferred motive for SALN/GIS differences; Cabrera accepted alternative explanations, offered revision upon documents, and had not investigated the declaration timing because of limited resources. On Carpio's sports purchases, she suggested sponsorship or gifts; Cabrera accepted those possibilities and said spending was flagged for investigation, with no conclusion or inclusion in P817 million. Asked about certainty after removing approximately P211 million attributed to GenCorp, he described the remainder as uncontroversial to him. Cayetano urged prominent disclosure of assumptions in the conclusions and invoked Ang Tibay due-process principles against sweeping conclusions. Cabrera maintained that professional judgment and sensitivity analysis supported his conservative 20% estimate, that the bases were explained inside the report, and that removing GenCorp would leave his conclusion unchanged.

Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri asked how the P4.4 billion in suspicious transactions he associated with AMLC's 2007-2024 coverage related to Cabrera's P817 million report. Cabrera said prosecution instructions focused his work on 2022-2025 and he had only partially examined earlier transactions. Zubiri requested an AMLC-list rundown for the judges' private perusal; Presiding Officer Sen. Francis "Chiz" G. Escudero directed the clerk to comply, while explaining that the materials could inform questioning but were not yet formally offered or admitted. Asked about foreign-currency or foreign-bank accounts, Cabrera identified Cale88 remittance accounts distinct from local accounts but said he had received no foreign-currency deposit statements. He affirmed, in response to Zubiri's final question, that he stood fully by his report.

Sen. Robinhood “Robin” Padilla questioned Cabrera's credibility through Isla Lipana's auditing of MFT Group and alleged P5 billion in bounced checks affecting OFWs. Cabrera confirmed his 2013-2021 chairmanship but said the challenged statements had not passed through him and the case arose afterward, involving two partners. Diokno said he had previously met Cabrera at one forum, retained full confidence in him, and understood Isla Lipana to have audited the parent rather than the implicated subsidiaries; Padilla disputed that account. After checking Cabrera's civic affiliations, Padilla challenged his lack of forensic certification; Cabrera cited CPA and lawyer licenses and 37 years' experience, distinguishing organizational certification from government licensing while acknowledging its value in training more fraud examiners. Padilla questioned limited time, assumptions and fairness, and urged the court not to rush impeachment; Cabrera maintained that deadline-driven work could still be done well. Cabrera also confirmed the December 2025 meeting with Mayor Robredo that Padilla asked about.

Sen. Francis "Chiz" G. Escudero questioned SALN valuation, initially suggesting that improvements need not be declared; Cabrera agreed. After Lacson corrected the treatment of real-property improvements, Escudero clarified that acquisition cost, rather than fair market value, enters the net-worth computation. In his later round, he confirmed with Diokno the 2022-2025 unexplained-wealth and business-interest allegations and the SALN-disclosure allegation, distinguishing unexplained from ill-gotten or hidden wealth; Cabrera described his test as property manifestly disproportionate to income. Escudero reviewed three grounds for piercing corporate personality; Cabrera said his report relied on tax fraud. He established that the P35 million attributed GenCorp contribution recurred as an undeclared annual entry but was counted once in the P817.9 million total. Cabrera clarified that only Cale88 recorded shareholder advances, treating the spouse's loan as a SALN receivable. Escudero then explored whether money attributed to shareholders could instead be advances against future dividends and thus liabilities. Cabrera accepted that accounting possibility for recorded advances but maintained that these unrecorded funds were concealed through the corporations; he agreed the alleged retention was his interpretation, outside the documents. Escudero separated P212,629,718 attributed to GenCorp and P142,198,690 to Cale88/Metro City Chow from P463,046,459 remaining on the bank-and-insurance calculation; Cabrera agreed the latter excluded the corporations. Asked for a less conservative ceiling, Cabrera estimated roughly P1.5 billion using excluded confidential funds, the AMLC discrepancy and a higher GenCorp ownership assumption. Escudero also asked whether unpaid taxes and other liabilities should reduce either estimate; Cabrera agreed liabilities would be deducted.

Sen. Vicente C. Sotto III moved to suspend the trial until 1 p.m. the next day. Before acting, Escudero asked whether defense counsel Sheila Sison wished to make further manifestations that afternoon; she agreed to defer them until the next sitting. Diokno likewise deferred manifestations on exhibit markings. Escudero then granted Sotto's motion and suspended the trial until 1 p.m. the following day.

Rep. Jose Manuel “Chel” I. Diokno argued that bank, AMLC, BIR and SEC records supplied a verifiable documentary basis for Article 2, framing the allegation around public trust, fitness and accountability. He confirmed the pleaded issues concerned unexplained wealth, truthful SALN disclosure and divestment of business interests during the vice presidency.

Diokno cited Rodrigo Villanueva v. People, Concept Builders v. NLRC and Toledo Construction Corporation Employees Association v. Toledo Construction Corporation to argue that corporate personality may be disregarded when used for illegal acts or a fraudulent scheme. He argued that the reported underdeclaration percentages already supplied clear and convincing evidence.

Diokno said the prosecution had not obtained Customs data to compare Cale88 exports with remittances and that further investigation was needed. Official workforce confirmation was also incomplete; Ferrer reserved the defense response to the GIS entries for the appropriate stage.

Atty. Kristine R. Ferrer questioned Cabrera's independence, pro bono engagement, tax and audit background, litigation experience and forensic credentials. She challenged how subpoenaed financial records reached him, documentary inventories, confidentiality provisions, limited time and the three-corporation focus.

Ferrer challenged cash treated as zero in the SALN cash category, possible inclusion in other property, liabilities, incomplete ownership and transaction checks, and absent interviews. She tested Cabrera's personal knowledge of Duterte's awareness of her spouse's accounts and insurance, contrasting gross AMLC flows with balance-based calculations.

Ferrer challenged the assumed 20% GenCorp interest and P35 million franchise attribution without ownership contracts, franchise agreements or confirmed costs. She questioned proportional Cale88 advances without loan records and Cabrera's knowledge of check and transfer purposes, and put sports-team purchases and group-travel expenses to him as explanations for credit-card transactions.

Ferrer challenged attributing corporate income without dividends through veil piercing and examined BIR fraud findings, audits, filed tax cases and judgments. She elicited that Cabrera's work was not a PwC-endorsed report.

Atty. Sheila C. Sison cited Kukan International Corporation v. Reyes and argued that wrongdoing must be clearly and convincingly established before corporate personality is disregarded. She said the respondent had not begun presenting evidence and objected to prosecution conclusions. She proposed handling formal-offer arrangements that day, then deferred remaining manifestations after the chair explained pending confidentiality procedures.

Presiding Officer Sen. Francis "Chiz" G. Escudero directed that documents shown to Cabrera be furnished to opposing counsel and instructed him to answer responsively, seek permission where explanation was needed, and leave further explanation for redirect if necessary.

The court overruled Diokno's misleading-question objection to Ferrer's comparison of Cabrera's tax career and limited early external-audit experience, allowing cross-examination to continue.

The chair directed redaction of account numbers in the defense presentation, as with the prosecution. He explained that documentary evidence used in the judges' decisions must be formally offered and admitted.

On Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri's request, the chair directed a private AMLC-list rundown for the judges. He said the materials could inform questioning but had not yet been formally offered or admitted.

The chair excused Cabrera and took under advisement the prosecution's stated intention to withdraw Article 3. Diokno confirmed Cabrera was the last Article 2 witness.

The court let Sison's characterization of Cabrera's conclusions as erroneous remain after Diokno moved to strike it. The chair directed circulation of both sides' corporate-veil cases by official email, retained Sison's reply, and closed the exchange.

Acting on Sen. Vicente C. Sotto III's motion, the chair suspended the trial until 1 p.m. the next day.

Senate President Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian called the trial to order, announced thirteen senator-judges present after roll call, and recognized the newly elected presiding officer.

The chair recalled Cabrera for continued cross-examination under his earlier oath. The court recessed for lunch with a direction to resume at 1 p.m., then returned him to the stand and resumed cross-examination.

Ferrer ended cross-examination and Diokno declined redirect. After a brief recess to organize the list, senator-judge questions began with Sen. Raffy T. Tulfo.

After Cabrera was excused, the court addressed the intended Article 3 withdrawal and heard corporate-veil manifestations. It arranged circulation of the cited cases and planned further procedural business.

Sison deferred remaining manifestations and Diokno deferred exhibit-marking manifestations. The trial was suspended until 1 p.m. the next day.

Cabrera explained the recurring GenCorp entry: "It continues to be undeclared." He said it was counted once in the total.

Cabrera promised reconciliation of wealth and tax table differences and the theoretical P250 million GenCorp tax discussion against the report's P158.036 million basic-tax total.

The GenCorp ownership percentage and corporate attribution remained disputed. Cabrera defended his assumed 20% while Ferrer and senator-judges pressed for ownership and transaction records; he said contrary documents could change his report.

The intended Article 3 withdrawal remained under advisement, with final prosecution manifestations and related administrative matters planned for the next sitting.

The court was still preparing confidentiality and transparency arrangements for documents in the anticipated prosecution formal offer. Remaining defense manifestations and prosecution exhibit markings were deferred, with trial to resume at 1 p.m. the next day.