DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Tuesday responded to the report that cited her family’s increasing wealth while in public office.

Duterte-Carpio told reporters on the sidelines of Hugpong ng Pagbabago’s campaign rally in Surigao City, Mindanao, that she and her lawyer husband, Atty. Manases Carpio, have jobs and businesses.

The lady mayor also said her net worth from five to ten years ago could not be the same as now, insisting that all their businesses were declared in their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN).

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

Last week, the PCIJ released a three-part series on the wealth and assets of the Dutertes.

The PCIJ in its report claimed that the Duterte family’s law firm is not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission since its establishment, and that some of their business interests were not disclosed in their SALN.

The report also found that the wealth of the Dutertes have consistently increased during their years in public office “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.”

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier slammed the PCIJ report, accusing the PCIJ of receiving money in exchange for releasing the report.

He also said that other people have no business scrutinizing their affairs as long as it did not involve the people’s money.

READ: Duterte hits PCIJ report on family’s wealth

But the PCIJ insists that the report was based on their SALNs and that they made efforts to get the side of the Dutertes before the story ran.

“PCIJ exerted best effort to get their side – by courier, fax and email. We sent them two batches of request letters in October 2018 and in January 2019,” PCIJ Executive Director Malou Mangahas said.

“PCIJ had wished only for the Dutertes to offer clear, direct, straightforward replies to our queries. Instead of blaming PCIJ for the report, Mr. Duterte should turn his attention at his deputies, notably Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, for the failure of the Office of the President to attend to PCIJ’s request letters, over the last five month,” she added.

Several groups have earlier urged the Dutertes to explain their ‘unexplained’ wealth, but Malacañang challenged them to file charges against the President and his children if they think the Dutertes have amassed ill-gotten wealth.

The palace also said that the law only requires public officials to file their SALN and does not require the filer to justify the increases in their income. – Robie de Guzman

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