MANILA: The “lavish spending” of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, runs counter to the constitutional requirement for public officials to lead modest lives, House prosecutors said on Thursday (Nov 12).
The House prosecution panel made the argument after defence witnesses Anel Martin Antero and Chadrin Parian confirmed that Duterte’s husband, Manases Carpio, used his credit card to pay for major expenses, specifically a P205,000 dinner in Japan and a P256,000 Nike shoes giveaway in Malaysia.
During the trial, private prosecutor Virgil Ligutan questioned Antero over the amount spent by the couple at a dinner at Ginza Inakaya in Tokyo on May 19, 2023, where he pointed out that the spending raised questions about compliance with the constitutional requirement for public officials to lead modest lives.
“An official and their family should lead a modest life. This goes into the heart of the controversy,” Ligutan told the impeachment court.
“Can our countrymen afford to eat in one sitting, spending P200,000? Is that leading a modest life?” he added in a mix of Filipino and English.
For his part, Antero claimed that 11 friends shared the dinner and that Carpio used his credit card to settle the bill before being reimbursed by the other diners.
However, he admitted he had no documents to prove the reimbursements or photographs confirming that all 11 people attended the dinner.
Meanwhile, in a separate cross-examination, private prosecutor Reynaldo Robles also questioned Parian about Carpio’s P256,882.50 Nike purchase during a children’s basketball tournament in Kuala Lumpur in June 2025.
Parian confirmed that Carpio bought shoes not only for the young players but also for adults accompanying the team. He even admitted that he could not afford to spend a similar amount on shoes for others.
“I also gave some shoes. But this much — P256,000, I can’t afford that,” he said.
Robles then questioned whether the giveaway reflected the simple lifestyle expected of public officials and their families.
“Is this an example of simple and modest living? Give everyone shoes for free?” he said.
But Parian declined to judge Carpio’s lifestyle, saying he could not answer for him, maintaining that the children and other parents deserved the shoes.
Meanwhile, defence lawyers objected to the prosecutors’ questions, arguing that the witnesses were presented only to explain the credit card charges and that Carpio was not the respondent in the impeachment case.
Under Article XI, Section 1 of the Constitution, public officials are required to lead modest lives, while Republic Act No. 6713 requires public officials and their families to live modestly according to their positions and income and avoid extravagant displays of wealth.
Presiding Senator-Judge Francis “Chiz” Escudero, for his part, said the P205,000 dinner expense was within Duterte’s declared net worth, which he recalled was about P88 million. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
