House eyes subpoena for VP Sara Duterte's bank records

The 11-person prosecution panel for the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday vowed to ask the Senate impeachment court to issue a subpoena for her bank records.

“The impeachment process allows us to complete the evidence to support our case, and that includes subpoenaing financial records if necessary through the Senate impeachment court,” Manila 3rd District Representative Joel Chua, one of the prosecutors, said in a statement.

“The Bank Secrecy Law provides an exception for impeachment cases, and we intend to use all legal means to secure relevant documents, in addition to the evidence already present, that will aid in the trial,” he pointed out, referring to the law’s provision which allows disclosure of bank deposits “upon order of a competent court in cases of bribery or dereliction of duty of public officials, or in cases where the money deposited or invested is the subject matter of the litigation.” 

The House of Representatives on Wednesday, February 5, impeached Duterte with 215 congressmen endorsing the verified complaint against her, which has been transmitted to the Senate for her impeachment trial. Another 25 House members have signed the impeachment complaint against Duterte, House Secretary General Reginald Velasco confirmed on Friday.

The seven Articles of Impeachment against the Vice President include:

- conspiracy to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. First Lady Liza Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez;

- malversation of P612.5 million in confidential funds with questionable liquidation documents;

- bribery and corruption in the Department of Education during Duterte’s tenure as secretary by handing out cash to former DepEd Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil-Mercado (procurement head), Bids and Awards Committee Member Resty Osias, DepEd Chief Accountant Rhunna Catalan and Special Disbursing Officer Edward Fajarda;

- unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets in the Vice President’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) where her wealth increased by four times from 2007 from 2017;

- involvement in extrajudicial killings in Davao City;

- destabilization, insurrection, and public disorder efforts, which include: boycotting the State of the Nation Address (SONA) while declaring herself "designated survivor," leading rallies calling for Marcos' resignation, obstructing congressional investigations by ordering subordinates not to comply with subpoenas, threatening bodily harm against the First Couple and Romualdez, among others;

- the totality of the Vice President’s conduct as the second highest official of the land.

During the 2012 to 2013 impeachment trial of then Chief Justice Renato Corona, his bank records were subpoenaed by the Senate impeachment court since the allegations against him involved betrayal of public trust over his failure of truthful disclosure of assets in his SALN. Corona was convicted by the Senate impeachment court in 2013.

“If public funds were misappropriated, the Filipino people have the right to know, and as prosecutors, we have the duty to uncover any such misappropriation. We will consider requesting subpoenas for bank records and, if necessary, seek judicial enforcement to ensure compliance,” Chua said.

“The recess does not stop our work. The prosecutors are reviewing evidence, gathering testimonies, and ensuring that we are ready once the Senate acts,” he added.

Earlier, Senate President Francis Escudero said the Senate will only convene as an impeachment court once the session resumes on June 2. He also said the Senate cannot be rushed to convene for the impeachment trial when the House took around two months before gathering enough complainants or at least one-third of all House members to send the impeachment complaint to them.

Administration lawmakers, however, denied that the House of Representatives was sleeping on the impeachment complaint against Vice President Duterte.

“The first impeachment complaint had 23 Articles of Impeachment. Of course, members of the House were hesitant to support that because there were too many grounds. The second and third impeachment complaints filed, on the other hand, were short on grounds. This could be lacking and insufficient. So, what we did po was, ito po ay pinag-aralan nang maigi kung anong option ang gagawin,” Chua said in a press conference.

(So what we did was we studied the matter thoroughly to determine what option we could do.)

“Siyempre kailangan po kung magpa-file ka ng impeachment complaint, siguraduhin mo na ito po ay solid at talagang matitindi po ‘yung mga grounds na ito. Kaya po, ito pong fourth impeachment complaint, ito po ay pinag-aralan, ito po ay pinagsama-sama na mga complaint na sa paniniwala po namin ay sapat para po makakuha po ng pabor na ruling galing po sa impeachment court,” Chua added.

(Of course, if you will file an impeachment complaint, you need to make sure that you stand on solid ground and the grounds are grave. So this fourth impeachment complaint was thoroughly studied based on the three complaints initially filed, and we believe that this has enough grounds to secure a favorable ruling before the impeachment court.

Prior to securing the initial 215 signatures for the fourth impeachment complaint, there were three pending impeachment complaints in the House which were only backed by six lawmakers in total.

Tingog Party-list Representative Jude Acidre, for his part, said that the lack of official action on the part of the House prior to February 5 does not mean that it is neglecting its duty in tackling the impeachment complaint.

“Just because there was no formal process taking place does not mean that the House is sitting on the impeachment complaint. I remember the [House] Secretary General [Reginald Velasco] saying that we cannot disregard the impeachment complaints. At a certain point, we knew we had to perform our constitutional duty of acting on the impeachment. So hinanda ho namin (we prepared) individually. Eventually ‘yung paisa-isa namin pakonti-konti ng grupo na usapin ay nagkaroon na ho ng (the small groups resulted in) traction until we realized that this was the way to go,” Acidre said.

“Hindi ho ibig sabihin na walang narinig sa media o walang nakikitang gumagalaw externally, pinabayaan na ang impeachment. I don't think that's a fair description to say the least. Mas minabuti namin na magkaroon ng pang-apat na complaint building on the strengths of the first three impeachment complaints. At sa tingin po namin at base rin sa advice ng pinagsamang legal teams na bumalangkas ng fourth impeachment, ito po ay isang matibay na kaso,” Acidre added.

(Just because it is not reported by media or no one sees us moving externally does not mean we have neglected the impeachment. I don't think that's a fair description to say the least. We deemed it best to have a fourth complaint building on the strengths of the first three impeachment complaints. And we think, and based also on the advise of our combined legal teams, we have a strong case.)

GMA News Online contacted the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to get its reaction.

"As per the matter regarding the HOR prosecutors, the query has been relayed to the Vice President already," the OVP said.

The Vice President has maintained that she did not misuse public funds, and that she will defend her name before the proper forum, which is the Senate impeachment court.

Earlier, the Vice President also said that being abandoned by a lover hurts more than being impeached by the House of Representatives.

Duterte on Friday also said that she is not contemplating on resigning from her position yet after the House of Representatives impeached her. —KG, GMA Integrated News