Lorna Kapunan: All evidence, including BIR box, should not be kept in secret

All the evidence for the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, including her and her husband’s tax returns, should be disclosed to the public, private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan said Thursday.

“The good thing here is the defense already consented to open the BIR box, mark the mysterious BIR box. But as to how the Senate impeachment court will dispose it, we will see. But the position of the prosecution is that everything should be transparent [when it comes to evidence,” Kapunan told reporters after the Holy Mass for Truth, Justice, and Accountability for the House prosecutors organized by the Clergy for Good Governance.

Kapunan was referring to Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) box which was first submitted to the House justice committee but was never opened pending the Senate impeachment trial of the Vice President.

“Hindi pwedeng i-executive session ang mga ebidensya. But we will leave it to the discretion of the impeachment court,” Kapunan added.

(The evidence cannot be deliberated upon in an executive session.)

An executive session is closed to journalists and public access.

Likewise, Kapunan said that the House prosecution team’s pleading to allow private prosecutors to present witnesses against the Vice President is in accordance with the Senate impeachment court rules.

“That [private prosecutors presenting witnesses] is allowed under the Senate rules. We are allowed, under the control of and supervision of the public prosecutors, to present witnesses,” Kapunan said.

The defense is opposed to such position by the prosecution.

The Senate impeachment rules provide that “counsel for the parties should be admitted to appear and be heard upon an impeachment: provided, that counsel for the prosecutors shall be under the control and supervision of the panel of prosecutors of the House of Representatives.”

“We leave it to the impeachment trial court [to decide] because it is crystal clear that the Senate impeachment rules provide for it,” Kapunan said.

The defense team earlier opposed the opening of the BIR box, citing it is a violation of their right to due process and privacy.

The House prosecution team particularly seeks to present the 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.

— RSJ, GMA News