The Senate sitting as an impeachment court is set to decide on the request of the House prosecution panel to issue subpoenas for the tax and bank records of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Atty. Manases Carpio, on Monday, July 20, 2026.
Presiding officer, Senator Francis Escudero, announced the deferment of the ruling after the senator-judges spent more than an hour in a closed-door caucus deliberating on the motions requesting the issuance of the subpoenas.
"For the information of the parties as well as the viewing public, in caucus, the senator-judges agreed to study the matter further, given that not everyone has completed reading the memoranda submitted by the parties," Escudero said.
"They want more time to look into the complicated issues involved in these two motions for the issuance of subpoenas," he added.
On the sixth day of the impeachment trial on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, the prosecution and defense counsels presented their oral arguments on the twin motions seeking subpoenas for the Duterte couple’s tax and bank records.
The prosecution argued that the records could help prove allegations of unexplained wealth stipulated in Article II of the impeachment complaint and are relevant to the proceedings.
OPPOSITION
Meanwhile, the defense urged the court to deny the request, contending that the motions are unsupported by sufficient factual and legal grounds.
It also argued that compelling the release of the records would violate the couple's constitutional rights to privacy and due process, and describe the request as a fishing expedition, claiming that the prosecution is still searching for evidence instead of presenting it.
When the impeachment court reconvenes on Monday, Escudero said senator-judges will have the opportunity to question both the prosecution and the defense regarding the pending motions.
He added that each senator-judge will be given up to 10 minutes to raise questions before the court begins deliberating on the requests.
WITNESSES DROPPED
The prosecution panel also announced that it would no longer present six other witnesses in support of Article 4 of the impeachment case, which concerns Duterte's alleged threat against President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and former Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Lead prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro said the following witnesses will no longer take the witness stand:
- A representative of the Philippine National Police Firearms and Explosives Office
- Journalist Mikhail Flores of Reuters
- Journalist Bonz Magsumbol of Rappler
- Sheriff Abe Andres
- A family member of a victim of threats
- A psychiatrist
Luistro told the Senate impeachment court that the testimony of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag on Tuesday, July 21, would be sufficient to establish the allegations under Article 4.
"Your Honor, this renders Atty. Melvin Matibag, the NBI director, as our last witness for threat who will be testifying this coming Tuesday,” Luistro said.
“The testimony of Agent Calilung already established that the video is authentic, plus considering, Your Honor, the defense's subsequent admission that the same are authentic videos, both parties have sufficiently established already the circumstances surrounding the statements made by the respondent in the authenticated video," she added.
