Senate impeachment court defers action on Sara Duterte tax, bank records

Senator-judges sitting as an impeachment court on Wednesday deferred action on the House prosecution panel's request to subpoena the tax and bank records of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband until Monday, July 20.

Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis "Chiz" Escudero announced the decision after the senator-judges held a closed-door caucus for more than an hour to discuss the motions seeking 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.

Escudero said that when the impeachment court resumes on Monday, senator-judges will also be given an opportunity to question both the prosecution and defense on the motions.

He said each senator-judge will be allotted up to 10 minutes to ask questions before the court deliberates on the requests.

The decision came after the prosecution and defense delivered their oral arguments over the House panel's motions seeking subpoenas for the tax and bank records of Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio.

Prosecutors maintained that the records could help establish alleged unexplained wealth and were material to the impeachment case.

The defense, however, opposed the request, arguing that the motions lacked factual and legal basis, infringed on the couple's constitutional rights to privacy and due process, and amounted to a fishing expedition because the prosecution was still looking for evidence rather than presenting it.

Defense 'hopeful'

In a separate interview, defense lawyer Michael Poa said they were hopeful the impeachment court would rule in their favor but stressed that they would respect whatever decision the senator-judges reached.

"Siyempre, kung ano man ang naging position natin, sana we were able to justify it. Sana we were able to show the issue on relevance. We discussed the various laws that prohibit certain disclosures. But whatever happens, we'll take it as it is," Poa told reporters.

(Of course, we hope we were able to justify our position. We hope we were able to demonstrate the issue of relevance and explain the various laws that prohibit certain disclosures. But whatever happens, we'll accept it.)

Poa said the defense would abide by the court's ruling while reserving the right to pursue available legal remedies if necessary.

"We'll always submit ourselves to the wisdom of the court. Also, kung 'di natin magustuhan, there will always be legal remedies," he said.

(We'll always submit ourselves to the wisdom of the court. If we disagree with the decision, there will always be legal remedies.)— MCG, GMA News