Sara Duterte denies owning lot NBI tied to her asset declarations

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October 13, 2026 | 11:45am

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte has denied owning a lot that the National Bureau of Investigation claims to be one of the properties in her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), and accused the bureau of misleading the public.

The denial came a day after NBI Director Melvin Matibag presented the agency’s initial findings on alleged discrepancies in the declared property values of Duterte and her brother Rep. Paolo Duterte (Davao City, 1st District), based on on-the-ground inspections by NBI agents in Davao City. 

Duterte’s SALN declarations are also currently at issue in the Senate impeachment trial, where the court has been shown stacks of financial and corporate records that prosecutors claim is proof of her unexplained, undeclared and disproportionate wealth.

“The lot in the photo that he said is in my Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth is not mine,” Duterte said in a statement in Filipino. She did not identify the specific property she was alluding to.

Duterte said it was alarming that the NBI was using its operations “for activities with no clear benefit to the public.”

She said such “deception of the public” was the reason the NBI was removed from the list of witnesses the prosecution would present in the impeachment proceedings. She cited what she described as allegations that the bureau had again put forward questionable evidence, as with the affidavit of dismissed police officer Rodulfo Gracioso Jr.

The prosecution has confirmed that it would be presenting no more witnesses after forensic financial analyst Alexander Cabrera, who is the prosecution's last witness for its case-in-chief. 

Citing a need to speed up proceedings, prosecutors have trimmed their witness list several times, including forgoing 15 of 27 witnesses originally planned for the confidential funds charge, and last week dropped the Article III or bribery charge.  

NBI claims Duterte property worth up to P60 million

At a briefing on Monday, October 12, Matibag claimed a property in Catigan, Davao City, declared as agricultural land worth P890,000, was estimated at P50 million to P60 million after it was inspected. 

Matibag said the Duterte family has 121 properties in Davao City and Davao del Norte, 24 of which belong to the vice president and are under investigation. 

About 14 properties had been identified from the vice president's SALNs for field inspection, according to the NBI. 

The probe, Matibag said, follows a pattern the bureau established from Gracioso’s affidavit, in which money was allegedly put into land banking, as he said was the practice with former House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco. 

Matibag said the NBI would submit initial findings to the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice, possibly within the week, and denied the investigation was politically motivated.   

Gracioso, whom the national police confirmed served on Velasco’s security detail, has alleged that he delivered more than P2 billion in cash to Duterte in more than 20 transactions, ranging from P20 million to P50 million each. He also claimed deliveries to Paolo Duterte and former President Rodrigo Duterte between 2018 and 2020. 

Duterte has denied knowing Gracioso or receiving money from him.