THE House prosecution on Wednesday said the examination of Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s tax returns and bank records at this stage of the trial is intended to avoid possible delays down the road in the proceedings.
Lawyer Jay Tolosa, who is prosecution legal spokesman, told a news conference prosecutors decided to request for subpoenas from the impeachment court for the tax and bank documents this early to support Article of Impeachment No. 2 on unexplained wealth.
He said based on the prosecution’s schedule of evidence presentation, of the four Articles of Impeachment, Article 2 would be the last to be tackled.
“Pero minabuti namin na mas maaga humingi na ng subpoena sa documents na ito para masigurado nating hindi makapag-cause ng delay yung usapin dito,” he said.
He said the prosecution has anticipated that the defense would oppose its request for subpoenas.
“Because we have already anticipated it…they will probably try to block it, which is exactly what they are trying to do now. Kaya we already asked for the issuance in advance para tuloy-tuloy na ho yung pag-presenta namin ng ebidensiya pag nandun na tayo,” he stressed.
For his part, Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, a prosecution spokesman, said the early scrutiny of the Vice President’s tax records would give senator-judges time “to examine and appreciate these documents…and also makita nila how relevant these are to the articles of impeachment.”
“Remember, these documents are not only technical but voluminous,” he said.
Tolosa also said the unexplained wealth charge would be supported by documents from relevant agencies, citing as examples the Vice President’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) and Anti-Money Laundering Council (AML) records.
“Ang dami hong dokumento na gagamitin din para mapagpatibay ang charges tungkol dito…we have the SALNs, hindi lang isa yan, madami yan, yung AMLC records, BIR records, bank records, testimonies of witnesses,” he said.
During the House justice committee hearings on the impeachment complaints against the vice president, the AMLC submitted a report on P7.7 billion in deposits and withdrawals flagged by banks as “covered” and “suspicious.”
Of the P6.7-billion “inflows” in the bank accounts of the vice president and her husband, “outflows” amounted to about P4 billion, leaving a balance of roughly P2.7 billion.
On the other hand, the Office of the Ombudsman furnished the committee with copies of the vice president’s SALNs, which showed that her net worth jumped from P7.5 million when she was Davao City mayor in 2006 to P88 million in 2024.
On Monday, Day 4 of the trial, the prosecution informed the impeachment court that it would no longer present two witnesses to expedite the proceedings.
metrosundaily
