Impeachment Court Orders Subpoenas for Sara Duterte's Bank, Tax Records

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate impeachment court on Monday, July 20, granted the prosecution’s request to subpoena the bank and tax records of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Mans Carpio. Senate impeachment court presiding officer Chiz Escudero announced the ruling after hearing lengthy oral arguments, saying the documents requested by the prosecution were “reasonably described, readily identifiable, and prima facie relevant” to the issue. Play Video The financial records are among the pieces of evidence that House prosecutors intend to use to prove Duterte’s alleged unexplained wealth. At least 19 companies and one partnership were included in the subpoena. However, not all of the financial records requested by the House prosecution were granted. The Senate impeachment court denied the prosecution’s request to subpoena the financial records of JTC Group of Companies and Pikimong Pikimong Philippines Corporation, as these companies’ general information sheets do not show the names of Duterte nor her husband. The prosecution’s motion to subpoena the dollar accounts of the couple was also denied due to the Foreign Currency Deposit Act. During a House justice committee hearing on the impeachment complaints against Duterte, it was revealed that total of P6.77 billion in large and suspicious transactions flowed through the bank accounts the couple from 2006 to 2025, dwarfing the amounts declared by Duterte in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN). At the House hearing, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) complied with the panel’s subpoena to produce the couple’s tax records, but the box containing the documents was left opened after it was argued at the time that this may be in violation of the tax code. Duterte’s defense team had argued that the request for subpoenas was illegal, “oppressive, unreasonable, and violative of the right of the respondent and her spouse to due process.” On Monday, defense spokesperson Michael Poa reiterated that the prosecution was on a “fishing expedition” in requesting the subpoenas, which House prosecutor Chel Diokno countered. Citing exceptions in the Bank Secrecy Law and other regulations, the House prosecutors believed that the financial documents in question can be accessed because they will be used in an impeachment process, which is a unique constitutional proceeding aimed at public accountability. ‘Strong leg to stand on’ Former congressman Oscar Moreno said in a Rappler interview in response to the court ruling that bank records could provide the clearest trail yet in the prosecution’s bid to prove Duterte’s alleged unexplained wealth. Moreno was a House prosecutor in the impeachment trial of then-president Joseph Estrada. Moreno also said that the subpoenaed financial records gives the prosecution’s case against Duterte “a strong leg to stand on.” “I could not imagine how the Senate would deny the twin requests presented by the prosecution,” he added. Law professor and constitutional law expert Maria Lulu Reyes said during Rappler’s special coverage of the trial that Escudero’s ruling is “legally correct, morally and ethically upright, and politically timely.” When Duterte’s trial began on July 6, Escudero ordered that the BIR box be returned to the BIR, still unopened. He explained that the impeachment court had not subpoenaed the tax records contained in the box and was therefore not yet in their legal custody. Last Wednesday, July 15, the Senate-impeachment court held a closed-door caucus lasting more than an hour without a ruling. Escudero said at the time that the senator-judges wanted more time to decide on it. – Rappler.com