House Deputy Speaker La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V says the Duterte family ought to clarify how it is able to financially sustain former president Rodrigo Duterte's International Criminal Court (ICC) case despite their claims of having a modest lifestyle.

“A clear explanation will settle it. Saan nanggagaling ang pondo? (Where do the funds come from?)” Ortega asked in a statement Monday, April 27.

Ortega raised this matter after it was learned during the impeachment proceedings of the House Committee on Justice that respondent Vice President Sara Duterte’s latest declared net worth was pegged at P88 million, alongside flagged bank transactions running into billions of pesos.

“Simple lang daw ang pamumuhay nila, pero ang tanong ng marami: paano natutustusan ang napakalaking gastos sa ICC case ng dating pangulong Rodrigo Duterte? (They claim to live simply, but the question many are asking is: how are the enormous expenses for former president Rodrigo Duterte's ICC case being funded?)" said Ortega, an endorser of one of the two active impeachment complaints against the Vice President.

“Kahit paano, may ideya na ang publiko batay sa mga datos na lumalabas sa impeachment hearing, gaya ng bilyon-bilyong transaksyon sa bangko (The public already has some idea based on the data emerging from the impeachment hearings, such as the billions in bank transactions)" he noted.

The elder Duterte is facing a crimes against humanity charge in relation to his administration's bloody war on drugs before the ICC at The Hague in the Netherlands.

Running alongside this in the Philippines is the 300-plus strong House's impeachment proceedings against his daughter, the Vice President. Vice President Duterte's impeachment is being sought, among other things, for alleged unexplained wealth and discrepancies in her statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALNs).

Figures presented by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) during the impeachment hearings pointed to at least 663 transactions—630 classified as “covered” and 33 as “suspicious”—linked to Duterte and her husband. The total amount reached nearly P6.77 billion.

Set against those disclosures is the mounting a legal defense cost before the United Nations (UN)-backed court, with some unverified reports placing monthly legal fees for Duterte counsel Nicholas Kaufman at P145 million to P150 million.

“Kung simple ang pinanggalingan at malinaw ang idineklarang yaman, natural lang na magtanong ang publiko kung paano natutustusan ang ganitong kalaking gastusin (If the source is supposedly simple and the declared wealth is clear, then it's only natural for the public to ask how such massive expenses are being sustained),” Ortega said.

The deputy speaker reckoned that if reports of monthly fees reaching up to P150 million for Kaufman are accurate, the amount would already be roughly half of the P88 million net worth declared by the Vice President in her 2025 SALN, based on records from the Office of the Ombudsman.

“These figures are already on record. When taken together, they raise a legitimate question,” he said.

And then there are the expenses on travel, accommodations, and repeated trips to Europe, particularly to The Netherlands, which would also definitely add up.

“May gastos din sa biyahe, tirahan at paulit-ulit na pagpunta sa The Netherlands. Hindi ito maliit na halaga (There are also costs for travel, lodging, and repeated trips to The Netherlands This is not a small amount),” Ortega pointed out.

At any rate, Ortega stressed he was not making any accusation toward the Dutertes, but was merely seeking an explanation.