Sara Duterte lawyers surprised by ruling on tax record subpoenas

The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday expressed surprise over reports that the impeachment court had largely prepared its ruling on subpoenas for bank and tax records even before the trial commenced on July 6. Atty. Michael Poa, spokesperson and defense counsel, said he “doesn’t want to read much into it” as he doesn’t want to “cast aspersion on the integrity of the court”. “Actually, nagulat rin ako nung nabasa ko 'yung statement — or at least 'yung statement base sa interview yata ng spokesperson ng impeachment court — but nonetheless, I don't really want to read too much into it. I don't want to cast aspersions dito sa ating nangyari kahapon,” Poa told reporters in an interview. (We were surprised when we read the statement, or at least the statement that is based on Tongol’s interview. Nonetheless, I don't really want to read too much into it. I don't want to cast aspersions on what happened yesterday.) “Lalo na, baka sabihin, hindi pabor sa atin ever raising all these issues. [Kaya] sa panig ng defense, we'll just take the decision as it is,” the lawyer added. (We don’t want the public to say we’re raising these issues because the ruling was not in our favor. On the part of the defense, we’ll just take the decision as it is.) On Monday, the Senate impeachment court granted the House prosecution panel’s request to issue a subpoena for the bank and Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) records of Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio. The impeachment court also granted the motion for a subpoena for relevant tax records related to the Vice President. According to Tongol, Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero was already ready to rule on the subpoenas on the first day of the trial, as such a request was already stated in the pre-trial brief of the House prosecution panel but deferred after the prosecution said they have filed a renewed request. Escudero also yielded to the conduct of oral arguments after the defense panel requested to be given a copy of the new request for subpoena, and the senator-judges asked that oral arguments be done. “Whatever happened prior, kung may ruling man o wala, I earnestly believe na 'yung mga senator-judges natin nakinig naman…Hindi ko masasabing useless 'yung naging exercise kasi at least we were still able to ventilate through oral arguments the position of the defense and the basis on why we held on to that position,” Poa added. (Whatever happened prior, we earnestly believe that the senator-judges listened to our argument. We cannot say the oral argument was useless because we were able to ventilate through oral arguments the position of the defense and the basis on why we held on to that position.) Meanwhile, Poa said he talked to Duterte about the court decision, but they have yet to discuss the availing of possible legal remedies, including elevating the case to the Supreme Court (SC). Duterte is currently in The Hague but “will be back soon”, he added. “When we advise her, we'll also have to give her the pros and cons in everything. So, I'm preparing to do that. And then, once mailatag ko siguro sa kanya, doon lang siguro siya makakapag-decide kung okay sa kanya. At sa amin rin, kahit kami, tinitingnan rin naman namin yung mga repercussions kung sakaling gawin namin ito, itong bagay,” said Poa. (When we advise her, we'll also have to give her the pros and cons in everything. So, I'm preparing to do that. And then, once we lay that out, she can decide if she agrees with that. For our part as counsel, we also weigh in the repercussions if we made a certain move.) —AOL, GMA News