Palace Doubts VP Duterte Will Sign Financial Records Waiver

Malacañang on Thursday expressed doubt that Vice President Sara Duterte would sign a waiver allowing access to her financial records, despite her legal team’s insistence that she has nothing to hide in the ongoing impeachment trial. Palace press officer Claire Castro said she did not expect Duterte to voluntarily waive the confidentiality of her bank and other financial records. “Have we ever seen a Duterte sign a waiver? We might end up hitting each other with our microphones here,” Castro said. “I don’t think so. I don’t think she will do that.” She was alluding to an incident during the Nov. 13, 2024 congressional probe into the past administration’s drug war when Duterte aimed to hit former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV with a microphone after the former lawmaker dared him to sign a bank secrecy waiver. Castro’s remarks came a day after the Senate impeachment court deferred its decision on whether to subpoena the bank and tax records of Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, as the prosecution and defense panels in the impeachment trial debated whether accountability or confidentiality should prevail. House prosecution panel member, Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno asserted that Duterte and her spouse’s tax and bank documents are vital to exposing the true state of her finances, a key element of the impeachment case, and would help senator-judges assess her fitness for office and whether her wealth was lawfully acquired. “Confidentiality should not be the prevailing principle in these proceedings. The truth is not confidential,” he said. Lawyer Michael Poa, Duterte’s defense spokesperson in the impeachment trial, argued that compelling the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to disclose the Vice President’s records would force government officials to violate the law. “Impeachment is not a magic word or a magic wand that one can just wave to transform an illegal act into a legal act, to transform unlawful access into lawful access,” he said. Poa also criticized the prosecution for requesting to subpoena the bank records of Carpio, a private citizen who should be outside the scope of any impeachment proceedings. “[T]he prosecution has repeatedly invoked accountability. We agree with them. No one is above the law, but in the same manner, no one must fall below or be outside the protection of the law,” he said. Responding to the argument, Castro said the key principle in the impeachment proceedings should be the pursuit of truth. “The real magic word is ‘truth.’ Truth is what must prevail in any investigation, especially in an impeachment trial,” she said. Castro also challenged the Vice President’s camp to substantiate its claim that it had nothing to conceal. “If they truly have nothing to fear, then she has an obligation to the Filipino people to show the truth,” Castro said. “It would be better for her to demonstrate that she has committed no wrongdoing and has nothing to hide regarding public funds,” she said. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has yet to receive any request to open the sealed green box containing the tax records of the Vice President and her husband before prosecutors can use them in the impeachment trial, according to Malacañang. “But once the request is received, it will be studied, and we will see what action the President will take on the matter,” Castro said. Section 71 of the National Internal Revenue Code requires the approval of the president before any tax documents can be examined. The commissioner of the BIR has the authority to make such a request. /jpv