Senate impeachment court subpoenas Sara Duterte's bank, AMLC, tax records

The Senate impeachment court on Monday granted the House prosecution panel’s request to issue a subpoena for the bank and Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) records of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio.

In a separate ruling, the impeachment court also granted the motion for a subpoena for relevant tax records related to the Vice President.

Senate impeachment court presiding officer Senator-Judge Francis “Chiz” Escudero read the ruling on the seventh day of the impeachment trial of Duterte.

““After a careful examination of the records requested, the Court finds that the requested documents meet the requirements set forth above. They are reasonably described, readily identifiable, prima facie relevant and material to the allegations under Article 2,” Escudero said.

He said that it is not the first time that bank records have been examined by an impeachment trial, citing the case of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Escudero also said that the Defense’s objection to the requested period from 2007 to 2021 is overruled. This means that records prior to the election of Duterte as Vice President in 2022 shall be produced in the court.

Adding more impeachable offenses not allowed

He committed that the documents requested under the subpoena duces tecum will not be used to allege additional independent impeachable offenses against the Vice President.

"For the same reasons discussed in the Court's earlier Order, consistent with the same jurisprudence, which are hereby adopted by reference, the Court likewise holds that the requested records are sought to establish the Respondent's financial baseline and capacity, and not to inquire into or prosecute alleged impeachable acts occurring outside the present Articles of Impeachment," Escudero said.

“The Court will only allow these records to be used to establish a factual baseline against which the respondent’s assets, financial transactions, and business interests during her present term may be assessed,” he added.

“Establishing such a factual baseline is recognized in settled jurisprudence involving allegations that a public officer’s wealth is manifestly disproportionate to the lawful income and financial capacity of the officer and the officer’s spouse.”

The ruling only authorizes the production of the records.

"Their admissibility and evidentiary use shall remain subject to the Prosecution establishing their connection to the alleged unexplained wealth during the Respondent’s present term in relation to Article II of the Articles of Impeachment," Escudero said.

Duterte-Carpio couple

Likewise, the court also overruled the Defense’s objection to the bank records held separately and jointly by Duterte and Carpio.

“The law is clear on the matter. The legal necessity of examining the financial records of Atty. Carpio is firmly cemented by the default property regime of absolute community of property governing his marriage to the respondent,” Escudero said.

He emphasized that without any proof of a different property regime governing their marriage, any funds deposited in the bank accounts of Carpio “are legally presumed to form a single, indivisible mass of community property jointly owned with the Vice President.”

The court also granted the request to subpoena 19 out of 21 listed corporate entities and the partnership linked to Duterte and Carpio.

Escudero explained that the motions concerning JTC Group of Companies and Pikimong Pikimong Philippines Corporation are denied as their general information sheets do not identify the two as shareholders.

"The Prosecution has failed to establish a prima facie nexus between these entities and to either the Respondent or Atty. Manases Carpio. The records sought therefore do not, at this time, satisfy the requirement of prima facie relevance under Rule 21 of the Rules of Civil Procedure," Escudero said.

He said that Duterte’s connection to the other 19 corporate-entities and the partnership is prima facie shown by their general information sheets and the articles of partnership, which have been pre-marked in evidence, and by her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) for 2022 to 2025.

"The Respondent’s connection to these entities is prima facie shown by their General Information Sheets and the Articles of Partnership, which have been pre-marked in evidence, and by her admitted SALNs for 2022 to 2025," Escudero said.

"The requests are therefore not a fishing expedition, and subpoenas may issue for their peso-denominated accounts strictly in relation to Article II," he added.

AMLC reports

Regarding the requests for subpoena for AMLC records, the court said the same were granted in connection with Duterte, Carpio, and the 19 corporate entities and one partnership "for which a prima facie connection has been shown through the pre-marked General Information Sheets, Articles of Partnership, and the Respondent's admitted SALNs."

The requests as to JTC Group of Companies and Pikimong Pikimong Philippines Corporation were denied "for failure, at this stage, to establish a prima facie link between the Respondent or her spouse and said entities, or any sufficient basis to disregard their separate juridical personalities, as previously stated."

"The Defense vigorously argues that the AMLC is absolutely shielded from this Court’s compulsory processes by the confidentiality provisions of Section 8-A of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), as amended, and warns that compliance would expose AMLC officers to criminal sanctions for breach of confidentiality," Escudero said.

"This argument is legally unavailing. Section 8-A regulates unauthorized and arbitrary disclosures by AMLC personnel; it does not, and constitutionally cannot, nullify the lawful subpoena powers of the Senate sitting as an Impeachment Court," he added.

The impeachment court said compliance with a lawful constitutional subpoena is a justifying circumstance that extinguishes any penal liability under Article 11, Paragraph 6 of the Revised Penal Code for any person acting in obedience to an order issued by a superior for some lawful purpose.

The tribunal cited the case of Republic v. Sandiganbayan (G.R. Nos. 232724-27, February 15, 2021), in which the Supreme Court explicitly rejected the AMLC’s attempt to quash a subpoena duces tecum.

It also mentioned the Supreme Court decision in Sabio v. Gordon (G.R. No. 174340, October 17, 2006), which explained that statutory provisions on confidentiality cannot be invoked to deny access to information by Congress.

"It is the position of this Court, that if the Sandiganbayan pursuant to its subpoena powers cannot be denied of AMLC records, as well as the legislature in aid of legislation, it most certainly cannot be denied to the Senate sitting as an impeachment court," Escudero said. –NB/BM, GMA News