House panel may vote on probable cause to impeach VP Sara by Wednesday

The House justice committee will possibly vote on whether there is probable cause to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte when it resumes its hearing on Wednesday, April 29, House justice panel chairperson and Batangas Second District Rep. Gerville Luistro said on Tuesday.

Luistro, however, said that there are still topics that have yet to be discussed including income tax returns of the Vice President and her husband, Manases Carpio, and the Vice President's supposed threat to kill President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. 

TIMELINE: Impeachment proceedings vs. Vice President Sara Duterte

"We need to resolve the issue on whether or not to open the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) box because it was laid on the table during the last hearing. And then we will be hearing also from the justice members if indeed we are decided to vote already because we are not sure yet whether the majority of the justice members are ready to vote," Luistro said in an interview on Balitanghali.

It was the BIR who submitted the tax returns of the Vice President and her husband, but the BIR said the House justice panel cannot open the box unless it is under a closed-door session and if it is in aid of legislation, citing the National Internal Revenue Code.

This BIR refusal has prompted the House justice panel to shelve the discussion on the tax returns.

"If they don't have any other inclination, then we should be able to vote tomorrow after the clarificatory hearing," Luistro added.

The Office of the Ombudsman earlier confirmed last April 22 that the Vice President did not declare any cash on hand or in bank in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALNs) from 2019 to 2024. 

During the same impeachment hearing last April 22, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) also said that bank transactions totaling P6.7 billion—classified as covered and suspicious—were recorded under the names of Vice President and her husband.

Carpio has denied that he and his wife had bank transactions totaling P6.7 billion.

Under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, a covered transaction refers to a cash or equivalent monetary transaction exceeding P500,000 within one banking day.

The law also defines suspicious transactions as dealings with covered institutions—regardless of amount—where there are indicators such as:

• lack of legal or economic basis;
• inconsistency with a client’s financial capacity;
• structuring to avoid reporting requirements;
• deviation from a client’s transaction profile or
• links to unlawful activity.

Moreover, the same AMLC report revealed that there is a derogatory record for the Vice President and her husband. 

Carpio has filed a complaint against officials from AMLC, the BSP, and several lawmakers following a report on their bank transactions at the House of Representatives.

This is for alleged violation of the Bank Secrecy Law, the Data Privacy Act, and the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) as amended.

The Vice President's defense team also previously questioned how the data was presented before the House Justice panel, claiming the figure appeared “bloated” because it was an aggregation of transactions spanning years.

Probable cause

Several members of the committee, meanwhile, say they have already decided on how they will vote on the determination of probable cause.

"I will vote for probable cause. I'm quite certain a lot of members of the Justice Committee will vote for probable cause tomorrow," House Committee on Justice member Rep. Terry Ridon said.

"Well, very important yung pagdinig in the previous week. I was being asked if I see it as a smoking gun. Ang sabi ko kanina, hindi ho yan smoking gun. Nuclear bomb 'ho yan. Kasi P6.7 billion in total transactions - P4.4 billion in inflows… Ang tanong sa kanila, saan galing ang P4.4 billion? Saan napunta yung P1.5 billion? Paano nagkaroon ng scale of financial transactions na P6.7 billion?" Ridon added.

(Well, the hearing in the previous week was very important. I was being asked if I see it as a smoking gun. I said earlier, it's not a smoking gun, it's a nuclear bomb. Because P6.7 billion in total transactions - P4.4 billion in inflows... The question is where did the P4.4 billion come from? Where did the P1.5 billion go? How did that scale of financial transactions reached P6.7 billion?)

Also voting for probable cause is House Committee on Justice ex-officio member Rep Antonio Tinio.

"Malinaw na malinaw, na-confirm na yung mga undeclared bank accounts. Malinaw, wala yun sa SALN. Nilulusot ngayon na nasa "others" daw pero ang layo naman noong amount," he said.

(It's very clear, the undeclared bank accounts have been confirmed. It's clear they're not in the SALN. They're now being passed off as "others," but the amount is far from that.)

In case the voting on probable cause pushes through tomorrow, Luistro said she is inclined to schedule a committee meeting on May 4 to approve the committee report.

It will then be transmitted to the plenary.

If the committee finds probable cause, 106 votes are needed in plenary to transmit the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate. —with reports from Tina Panganiban-Perez/ VAL, GMA News