Shared Property, Separate Responsibility, and the Case for Legal Reform
*Dr. Rodolfo John Ortiz Teope, PhD, EdD, DM
Imagine a woman who saves a little from every payday. Part of her salary goes to groceries, part to her children’s schooling, and whatever remains stays in a joint account she opened with her husband years ago.
“Para sa pamilya,” they said when they signed the papers.
Years later, the marriage has grown distant. They still share expenses, but no longer share every detail of their lives. One afternoon, she learns that millions of pesos have passed through that account.
“Kanino ang pera?” she asks.
“Sa negosyo. Huwag mo nang problemahin,” he replies.
Then investigators begin asking questions. Transactions she cannot explain bear an account number she recognizes. Her name appears beside his. The money she carefully saved sits alongside funds whose origin she says she never knew.
She looks again at the documents they signed. What once represented trust now carries a frightening question: “Dahil ba asawa niya ako, pananagutan ko na ang lahat ng ginawa niya?”
This is an imagined story, not an account of the Duterte family. But it captures a concern raised by the financial questions surrounding Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment proceedings: how should the law distinguish shared property from personal responsibility?
I do not write to persuade anyone that VP Sara Duterte is innocent of the SALN-related allegations or to ask for her acquittal. Her accountability must be decided on the evidence and applicable law. I write to urge the Senate and the House of Representatives to review our rules on marital property, joint accounts, and financial disclosure, and enact reforms where protections or procedures are inadequate.
Hindi ito panawagan para palusutin ang sinuman. Panawagan ito para gawing mas malinaw ang batas, mas matibay ang pananagutan, at mas makatarungan ang proteksiyon sa mga taong walang kinalaman sa pagkakamali ng kanilang asawa.
Reports about accounts involving her husband deserve scrutiny. Investigators must establish who owned the funds, controlled their movement, and knew their source. A family relationship cannot answer those questions by itself.
Sa buhay ng tao, hindi lahat ng mag-asawa ay bukas tungkol sa pera. Some run separate businesses; others have separated but retain accounts for their children. May mga asawang huling nakaaalam sa utang o transaksiyong ginagawa sa pangalan ng kanilang pamilya.
Marriage creates obligations. It does not create perfect knowledge.
Yet ignorance cannot simply be asserted and accepted. A person who regularly authorizes transfers, enjoys the proceeds, and helps conceal their source occupies a different position from someone whose name remained on an account they no longer operated. Investigators must examine records, instructions, access, and conduct. “Hindi ko alam” is an explanation to test, not a conclusion to assume.
Under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, as amended, knowledge that funds involve unlawful proceeds is an element of the money-laundering offense, together with the conduct specified by law. Joint ownership alone does not establish those elements. Nevertheless, disputed funds may be investigated or restricted through the applicable legal processes, affecting even someone who claims a legitimate interest in them.
Dito nagiging mabigat ang problema. An innocent spouse needs a fair opportunity to identify savings from honest work, even while investigators trace questionable funds.
For public officials, there is another question: what should have been declared in the SALN?
That duty is distinct from criminal participation. Republic Act No. 6713 generally requires disclosure of the official’s assets and liabilities, including those of a spouse and qualifying children. “Hindi ako ang kumita” does not necessarily remove a reporting obligation. At the same time, an alleged omission must be assessed under the applicable rules; it does not, by itself, prove that the omitted asset came from a crime.
In Abid-Babano v. Executive Secretary, the Supreme Court recognized a qualification concerning a spouse’s exclusive assets under complete separation of property. Whether it applies to VP Sara requires evidence specific to her circumstances. These legal distinctions do not determine the impeachment charges against her.
Disclosure rules should distinguish exclusive property, shared interests, and funds held for others. They should also address information withheld by an estranged or uncooperative spouse. A documented process could require reasonable requests for records, disclosure of known interests, an explanation of unavailable information, and timely corrections. Protection must depend on demonstrated good faith, so “my spouse handled everything” cannot become a hiding place for wealth.
Financial presentations need equal care. Money flowing through an account is not necessarily money owned at year-end. Repeated transfers, loans, and business receipts require reconciliation. A large transaction total deserves explanation; it cannot replace an account of the money’s source, ownership, and movement.
Hindi sapat na sabihing milyon ang pumasok. Kailangang malaman kung saan nanggaling, saan napunta, at sino ang tunay na may-ari.
Should separate property become the default for future marriages, with couples expressly choosing shared ownership? That proposal deserves debate, alongside a simpler process that explains property choices before marriage.
Under the Family Code, absolute community generally applies without a valid marriage settlement choosing another regime, subject to applicable exceptions. It differs from conjugal partnership of gains. Separation in fact ordinarily does not dissolve the property regime, and a later affidavit cannot simply replace the legal procedures for changing it.
Congress should examine accessible, legally supervised procedures for changing property relations when justified, and clearer rules for joint accounts retained after separation. Account holders need notice, access to relevant records, and a fair process for identifying legitimate funds mixed with disputed money.
Any change must protect existing rights, creditors, children’s support, and spouses with unequal bargaining power. A notarized declaration must not become a shortcut for hiding wealth or depriving a spouse of an existing share. Separate ownership alone would not solve concealment or erase SALN duties.
Nor should reform treat the spouse without a salary as someone who contributed nothing. The person who raises the children, manages the home, and supports the other’s career may have helped build the family’s prosperity in ways a bank statement cannot measure.
Hindi lahat ng pinaghirapan ay nakapangalan sa titulo. Hindi lahat ng ambag ay may payslip.
Accounts used as “parking lots” for questionable funds sharpen the same issue. Investigators must distinguish an unwitting recipient from someone who knowingly moves unlawful money for a fee. Reform should make ownership and control easier to establish, while preserving lawful access to relevant financial records and protection for unrelated private information.
An impeachment trial can bring these questions into view. It remains constitutionally distinct from an inquiry in aid of legislation, and legislative possibilities do not replace the duty to resolve the charges on their merits. Congress can pursue the resulting reform questions through the proper process.
These proposals deserve hearings involving regulators, family-law specialists, public officials, and spouses who have experienced financial abuse. A law’s value should be measured by the protection it gives ordinary families and the clarity it brings to investigations.
For the woman in our imagined story, these are not abstract reforms. She wants to know whether her savings can be identified, whether her explanation will be fairly examined, and whether the account opened “para sa pamilya” has become a burden her children must carry.
If she knowingly helped move unlawful money, the evidence should establish her responsibility. If she did not, her marriage should not supply the missing proof.
That is the principle I ask our lawmakers to protect. VP Sara’s accountability must be decided on the merits of her case. The need for reform must be examined with the lives of all Filipinos in mind.
When the hearings end, families will still be living with shared accounts, unsettled property, and financial secrets. They need rules they can understand before trust breaks down, and fair procedures they can rely on when it does.
Ang pag-aasawa ay hindi dapat maging kanlungan ng nakaw na yaman. Hindi rin ito dapat maging bitag para sa asawang walang KASALanan.
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