BIR box an 'armory' of evidence vs. VP Sara Duterte, says House prosecutor

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) box containing the tax records of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband Manases Carpio is an armory of evidence against the official, House impeachment trial spokesperson Zia Adiong of Lanao del Sur said Friday.

Adiong was referring to the BIR box that the House prosecution panel wanted to open and mark as evidence during the pre-trial conference, a move opposed by the defense.

The House prosecution team then sought that the BIR box remain sealed and marked as evidence, which the defense team still opposed. This constant opposition prompted the Clerk of Court of the Senate impeachment court to ask the defense to submit a comment on the matter within 24 hours before resolving the issue.

“There is no other way to describe their reaction than fear. Ayaw nila makita. There's no other way again to describe it because this does not look like a mere smoking gun. This is an arsenal, an armory that they do not want the public to know. But what we want for the court to appreciate is the entire financial picture insofar as the declared assets, declared liabilities, and the declared lawful income of the Vice President and her spouse,” Adiong said in a press conference.

“Because by the virtue of their union, they are considered as one entity. Secondly, what do they fear about this box? Well, this will show their paid taxes, their assets and liabilities. Their tax records won’t lie. The question here is, takot ba tayo sa katotohanan?” Adiong added.

(Are they afraid of the truth?)

The House prosecution team particularly seeks the marking of BIR box as evidence for proving Article 2 of the impeachment case, which alleges that the Vice President committed culpable violation of the constitution and betrayal of public trust due to the following acts:

• amassing unexplained wealth manifestly disproportionate to her lawful income and earnings during her incumbency as a public official;
• failure to fully and truthfully disclose all her and her spouse's assets, liabilities, and net worth in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) including in her SALN for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024; and
• failure to divest, and instead, willfully continued, all her business interests during her tenure as vice president for the years 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

The BIR box was first subpoenaed by the House Committee on Justice during its deliberations on the sufficiency of grounds of the impeachment complaints.

BIR Commissioner Charlito Mendoza submitted the sealed box to the House committee on justice, but warned that these ITRs may only be disclosed when the request is in aid of legislation and must be examined in an executive session, not in a public hearing attended by media.

He cited Section 20 of the National Internal Revenue Code, which states that the Commissioner shall, upon request of Congress and in aid of legislation, furnish its appropriate committee with pertinent information, including taxpayer returns.

The House justice panel eventually voted against the opening of the BIR box pending the Senate impeachment trial.

During the House justice panel deliberations, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records revealed that corporate records of several companies linked to Vice President Duterte declared low profit margins despite reporting millions of pesos in gross income.

House impeachment team legal spokesperson Benjamin Tolosa, Jr., for his part, disclosed that the defense was opposing the opening of the BIR box because it is a violation of due process.

Tolosa, however, said that the marking of BIR box and its contents as evidence is above board since marking of evidence does not automatically mean that the prosecutors will present such marked evidence during the trial proper.

“This was addressed by the prosecutors. They, Congressman [Gerville] Luistro [of Batangas] and Chel Diokno of Akbayan, said there is no violation of due process because we are not yet asking the court for these documents to be admitted in evidence. What we wanted during the pre-trial is for them to be marked [as evidence], Tolosa said.

But he said that the prosecution cannot preempt the court and is hopeful that it will allow the marking of BIR box and its contents as evidence.

“We don't want to preempt the action that may be taken by the impeachment court about this. To be clear, they did not yet deny the motion to open the box. This does not mean that they will not allow its opening. So we will address that issue once it becomes apparent already, meaning when they've acted on it,” he added.—LDF, GMA News