Sara Duterte on PCIJ report: Wealth built with jobs, businesses

SURIGAO CITY -- Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said Tuesday she and her husband have jobs and businesses as she refuted an investigative report that questioned her family's growing wealth.

President Rodrigo Duterte's eldest daughter said her net worth 5 or 10 years ago could not be the same as now. She is married to lawyer Manases Carpio, with whom she established a law firm.

"Nag-hanapbuhay naman ang asawa ko at ako. And of course, may mga businesses na nandiyan naman lahat iyan sa SALN (Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth) namin," Duterte-Carpio told reporters on the sidelines of Hugpong ng Pagbabago’s campaign sortie here.

(Me and my husband also work. And of course, we have businesses which were also declared in our SALN.)

• 'Libre lahat, pati mura': Duterte credits mother for wealth
• Data on family wealth came from Dutertes' SALNs, PCIJ says

Duterte-Carpio said she has yet to read the three-part series of the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) which also examined the assets of her father and her brother, former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte.

In the first part of its report released last week, the PCIJ said the law firm Carpio & Duterte Lawyers was not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the second part of their report, the PCIJ said the Dutertes “have all consistently grown richer over the years, even on the modest salaries they have received for various public posts, and despite the negligible retained earnings reflected in the financial statements of the companies they own or co-own.”

Duterte-Carpio’s net worth in 2017 climbed to P44.83 million, or an increase of 28.45 percent from what she had declared the year before at P34.89 million, the PCIJ said.

The investigative piece’s third part claimed that the President, Sara and Paolo have interests in at least 23 corporate entities.