By Wilnard Bacelonia
MANILA – Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis Escudero on Monday ordered the return of a sealed Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) box and deferred action on prosecution requests for bank and Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) records involving Vice President Sara Z. Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio.
During the first day of the impeachment trial, Escudero said the BIR box should be returned to the tax agency because the court had not issued any lawful order for the Senate to take custody of it.
“This box was turned over to the Senate as part of the documents, including the articles of impeachment. However, the court is not yet in custodia legis (in the custody of the law) of this box,” Escudero said.
He said the box had not been marked or offered as evidence, prompting the order it sent back to the BIR “closed, sealed, and as it is received.”
Escudero said the return of the box would be without prejudice to any action the court may take should either party file a motion for the issuance of a subpoena.
The court also took up the prosecution’s request for subpoenas covering bank and AMLC records related to Duterte and Carpio from 2006 or 2007 to 2025, including account records, transaction documents, covered transaction reports, suspicious transaction reports and investigation records.
House of Representatives prosecutor Chel Diokno said the prosecution had refiled the request after an earlier plea sought the production of documents on June 24, but no subpoena was issued.
Defense lead counsel Sheila Sison asked that the defense be furnished copies of both the earlier and new subpoena requests, saying the records sought appeared to cover years outside Duterte’s current term as an impeachable officer.
Sison said the request seemed to run contrary to the Supreme Court (SC) ruling in Duterte v. House of Representatives, which she said limited impeachment to acts or omissions committed within the impeachable officer’s covered term.
She also said the defense would raise its objections in writing, describing the prosecution’s move as appearing to be “another 2.0 version of a fishing expedition.”
Diokno countered that the SC ruling did not categorically bar evidence from earlier years, saying the impeachment charges still pertain to acts allegedly committed during Duterte’s term as Vice President.
“Integrity hindi po pwedeng biyakin po ‘yan (Integrity cannot be divided). It’s very clear that integrity is a continuing requirement of fitness for office,” Diokno said.
Escudero directed both parties to furnish each other copies of all subpoena motions before filing them with the impeachment court “in order to provide full disclosure and fairness.”
He gave the parties five days from receipt of the documents to submit their comments, memoranda, or position papers, and said the court would schedule oral arguments on the bank and AMLC records request.
Escudero said the senator-judges would be given the opportunity to hear both sides before the court rules on the subpoenas. (PNA)
