Sara Duterte camp agrees to open BIR tax records box under executive session condition

The camp of Vice President Sara Duterte has agreed to the opening of a sealed box from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) containing tax documents of her and her husband, on the condition that it be done in an executive session. According to Tina Panganiban-Perez’s report in “24 Oras” on Monday, the Senate impeachment court already has its hands on the BIR box, which contains documents that could be used as evidence in the impeachment trial against Duterte. The box is believed to contain the income tax returns of Duterte and of her husband, Manases Carpio, as well as of their businesses. During the pre-trial conference earlier, Duterte’s camp did not agree to the unsealing and marking of the box as evidence. But the House Prosecutors found hope after the defense agreed to unseal it. “They changed their stance, ‘Okay, we are agreeing now. Pwede na nating buksan ‘yan. But again, conditions are executive session and dapat hindi isapubliko itong mga dokumento na ito,” said House impeachment legal spokesperson and private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa, Jr. (They changed their stance, ‘Okay, we are agreeing now. We can open that now. But again, the conditions are an executive session, and these documents must not be made public.’) For her part, House impeachment prosecutor and ML Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima said that there’s no need for an executive session for the unsealing of the box. “Hindi naman kailangan ng executive session. Bakit kailangan pa ng executive session? Ayun lang naman ang gagawin muna, saka na lang pagtalunan yung tungkol doon sa mga sinasabi nilang hindi pwede dahil mayroong confidentiality provisions. But it is our right, at this point, the prosecution to mark those exhibits dahil kasama ‘yan sa listahan ng aming mga evidence,” she said. (An executive session is not necessary. Why is an executive session even needed? That is all that will be done for now; we can argue later about what they claim cannot be disclosed due to confidentiality provisions. But it is our right, at this point, for the prosecution to mark those exhibits because that is included in the list of our evidence.) GMA News has reached out to Duterte’s legal team for a comment. Meanwhile, the second batch of private prosecutors to join the House prosecution panel are: Theodore Te, Mae Divinagracia, Arnold Labay, and Reynaldo Robles. Former lawmaker Ace Barbers, on the other hand, will sit as impeachment adviser and spokesperson. A third batch of private prosecutors will be announced soon. “So, sa mga magsasabi na hindi handa ang prosecution kaya napakarami ng kinukuha nilang mga abogado. Hindi po totoo ‘yun. Talagang nagkakaiba lang ang trabaho ng prosecution sa trabaho ng defense,” said House impeachment prosecutor and Akbayan Party-list Rep. Chel Diokno. (So to those who are saying that the prosecution is unready just because we are taking on so many lawyers, that is not true. The work of the prosecution is simply very different from the work of the defense.) Furthermore, the pre-trial order was already sent to the defense and prosecution teams via email. Both parties must submit their responses within three days or until Thursday, July 2. –Vince Angelo Ferreras/NB, GMA News