Spousal privilege may come into play if prosecution calls Mans Carpio

SPOUSAL privilege could become a legal issue if House prosecutors eventually decide to call Lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio to testify in the impeachment trial of his wife, Vice President Sara Z. Duterte.

“Well, as a rule, meron hong spousal privilege, but kung paano ho ’yan, it’s subject to certain limitations and restrictions,” House Prosecution Legal Spokesperson and Private Prosecutor Benjamin “Jay” Tolosa Jr. explained in a radio interview over dzMM Wednesday.

Tolosa was asked about Carpio after discussing why Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte cannot rely on his sibling relationship with the Vice President as a blanket reason to refuse testimony.

The Rules on Evidence provide separate protections involving testimony between spouses and confidential marital communications, although their scope, exceptions and application would have to be determined by the impeachment court if the issue is actually raised.

“But kung paano ho ’yan ma-apply dito sa kaso na ’yan, we will see if and when we will call him as witness,” Tolosa clarified.

Carpio is not presently included in the prosecution’s listed witnesses despite financial and corporate records involving him forming part of the prosecution’s Article II presentation.

“Hindi pa naman po dahil wala naman ho siya doon sa witness list natin, so we’re on continuing evaluation, so we’ll see if there’s a need for it,” Tolosa disclosed.

The prosecution has previously obtained financial, bank and corporate records involving Duterte, Carpio and business entities connected to them as part of its unexplained wealth presentation.

Tolosa stressed that the absence of Carpio’s name from the current witness list does not permanently prevent prosecutors from seeking his testimony later if the evidence leads them in that direction.

“Puwede naman po dahil meron naman hong general reservation at meron naman hong instance na napayagan na rin ho tayong gawin ’yan,” Tolosa explained.

Any late addition would have to provide sufficient notice to both Duterte’s defense and the impeachment court.

“At sabi nga ho ng impeachment court, we just have to give them ample time to prepare, ’yung other party and the court, para dapat ho ma-notify ho sila in advance,” Tolosa added.