Carpio asks for Grace Poe’s tax return as resident alien in 2005

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Tuesday asked Senator Grace Poe's lawyer whether she paid an income tax return in 2005 when she was supposedly already establishing her residency in the Philippines.

Carpio was questioning Poe's legal counsel, Attorney Alexander Poblador, on whether or not Poe had enough residency to qualify for a presidential candidacy in 2016.

Poblador said that even if Poe was still an American citizen when she returned to the country in May 2005, she was already planning to reside in the Philippines.

"For purposes of election laws, she's already a resident here," Poblador told Carpio.

"She was a resident alien, that's your position.... As a resident alien you must file an income tax return. Did she file an income tax return?" Carpio said.

"I presume she did your honor," Poblador said.

It was at this point that Carpio asked that Poblador submit Poe's income tax return for 2005.

"We have to establish that she planned to reside here," Carpio said.

Sought for comment on the document being required by the senior justice, Poe's spokesman Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian said their camp would comply.

"Our legal counsel will see to it that all the documents asked for by the Court will be submitted in a timely manner. We will see to it that we comply with the documentary submissions asked for by the Good Court," Gatchalian said in a statement. -NB, GMA News