VP Duterte May Elevate Senate Subpoena to Supreme Court

Lawyers for Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte have yet to discuss whether to elevate the Senate impeachment court's decision to subpoena her bank and tax records to the Supreme Court, stating it is one of the possible options. After yesterday's hearing, defense team spokesman Michael Poa said that while they respect the ruling of the impeachment court, they are aware of the legal remedies available to them and have yet to consult the Vice President on their next steps. Poa explained that during the hearing, "the defense argued its position and laid down the basis of our objection, and mentioned in our opposition relevant laws that really fortified our position why the request should not be given due course, but nonetheless it is up to the (impeachment) court. We submit to the decision of the impeachment court, of course without prejudice to the legal remedies available under the law." When asked about the legal remedies available to the defense team, Poa replied, "To be perfectly clear, we are not even sure if a motion for reconsideration is something that we are allowed to do. It might not be in the rules, the last time we checked. Of course, there is a possibility of going up, as I mentioned earlier, everything is subject to judicial review depending on the circumstances available." "But we have not yet made that decision yet. I just want to clarify, this is something that we have to discuss as a team," he added. The subpoena is part of the impeachment proceedings against the Vice President, a development closely watched in the Philippines' political landscape. The move to compel disclosure of financial records, potentially linked to allegations of past political influence, highlights tensions between calls for transparency and accountability and political power struggles.