Defense presents LOA issued to Sara Duterte, Mans Carpio

The defense panel on Friday presented a copy of the letter of authority (LOA) issued by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for the audit of the tax records of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Atty. Manases Carpio, during the impeachment trial, despite its confidential nature.

Defense counsel Kristine Ferrer did this during her cross-examination of BIR Office of the Commissioner chief of staff, Atty. Anne Loraine Garcia-Marquez, on Day 37 of the trial, tackling Article 2 of the impeachment case, which accuses the Vice President of amassing unexplained wealth.

While Ferrer was presenting the documents, Garcia-Marquez reminded her that the contents of the LOAs are confidential.

Private prosecutor Erwin Matib backed the witness, stressing that it was the defense, not the prosecution, who flashed the confidential documents during the trial for public viewing.

“We put on record that it was the Defense who put on the screen these LOAs, which, according to them, are supposed to be confidential,” Matib said.

Ferrer made a counter-manifestation, saying that their client gave consent for such.

“That is our client’s right also which can be waived, Your Honor… I mean, not waiver, consent [of the taxpayer],” the defense lawyer said.

Matib said the prosecution found it “ironic” that the defense presented confidential documents during the trial, when the latter opposed it during the direct examination on Thursday.

“Whatever our reason for flashing that, Your Honor, is already up to us,” Ferrer answered.

Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis Escudero allowed the defense to proceed.

“Stranger things have happened, Atty. Erwin,” Escudero told the prosecution.

Before the trial paused for lunch break, Garcia-Marquez raised concern that when the LOAs were presented by the defense, the names of BIR officers were also publicized.

“Nung na-flash ‘yung copy ng LOAs sa screen kanina…naipakita kasi 'yung name ng mga revenue officers. It should’ve been redacted,” she said.

(When the copy of the LOAs was flashed on the screen earlier... the names of the revenue officers were shown. These should have been redacted.)

Escudero said that the names will be redacted in the document that will be submitted to the impeachment court.

“But it was already flashed on the screen. ‘Yung concern ko do’n (My concern), Your Honor, is the names,” the witnesses added.

The prosecution manifested that there was a supposed violation of privacy that occurred.

“So we manifest, Your Honor, that there has been a violation of the privacy of the people involved. Their names were flashed on the screen for everyone to see,” Matib said.

Escudero said the impeachment court will look into the matter and will consult with Garcia-Marquez before she gets excused.

To recall, Garcia-Marquez on Thursday confirmed that the BIR issued a LOA for the audit of the tax records of Duterte and Carpio.

According to the BIR, the LOA is the bureau's primary legal document that authorizes revenue officers to examine a taxpayer's books and records.

It grants the commissioner the authority to conduct audits based on a clear legal foundation, with proper identification of the examiner and adherence to due process.

Garcia-Marquez, during her redirect examination, explained that a LOA is simply an authority to conduct audits on a particular taxpayer.

She pointed out that when a taxpayer receives a LOA, he or she should not be afraid as this only indicates the start of the process.

“Hindi naman po dahil wala pa naman pong assessment. It’s just that mag-start pa lang po to request for the submission of documents to be reviewed and audited by the revenue officers,” the witness said.

(They should not necessarily be afraid because there is no assessment yet. It’s just that the process of requesting the submission of documents, to be reviewed and audited by the revenue officers, is only starting.)

“Kung wala naman pong audit findings, then wala naman pong ia-assess so okay lang naman po ‘yun,” she added.

(If there are no audit findings, then there will be no assessment, so that would be fine.) —AOL, GMA News