Questions about how the Duterte family is financing former president Rodrigo Duterte’s legal battle before the International Criminal Court (ICC) are now being raised in Congress, with a House deputy speaker calling for a direct accounting of the funds involved.
La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V, one of the endorsers of the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte, said the scale of the reported legal costs does not square with the family’s publicly declared financial standing.
“Simple lang daw ang pamumuhay nila, pero ang tanong ng marami: paano natutustusan ang napakalaking gastos sa ICC case ng dating pangulong Rodrigo Duterte?” Ortega said in a statement Monday, April 27.
Unverified reports have placed the monthly legal fees of Duterte counsel Nicholas Kaufman at between P145 million and P150 million. Ortega noted that figure would already represent roughly half of the P88 million net worth declared by the Vice President in her 2025 Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) on file with the Office of the Ombudsman.
“These figures are already on record. When taken together, they raise a legitimate question,” he said.
Beyond attorney’s fees, Ortega flagged the additional financial burden of repeated travel to The Hague in the Netherlands, where the ICC proceedings are ongoing.
“May gastos din sa biyahe, tirahan at paulit-ulit na pagpunta sa The Netherlands. Hindi ito maliit na halaga,” Ortega pointed out.
The former president faces crimes against humanity charges at the ICC in connection with his administration’s war on drugs. His daughter, meanwhile, is the subject of impeachment proceedings in the House, where more than 300 members are participating. Among the grounds cited in the complaint are alleged unexplained wealth and discrepancies in her SALNs.
Data presented by the Anti-Money Laundering Council during the impeachment hearings identified at least 663 bank transactions — 630 classified as “covered” and 33 as “suspicious” — linked to the Vice President and her husband, totaling nearly P6.77 billion.
Ortega said those disclosures have given the public a basis for their questions.
“Kahit paano, may ideya na ang publiko batay sa mga datos na lumalabas sa impeachment hearing, gaya ng bilyon-bilyong transaksyon sa bangko,” he noted.
“A clear explanation will settle it. Saan nanggagaling ang pondo?” Ortega asked, while stressing he was not leveling accusations at the family.
“Kung simple ang pinanggalingan at malinaw ang idineklarang yaman, natural lang na magtanong ang publiko kung paano natutustusan ang ganitong kalaking gastusin,” he said.
