Manila: The House Committee on Justice voted Wednesday not to open the sealed box of tax records submitted by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) containing the income tax returns of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio. After hearing the presentations of several members, six voted to open the BIR box, 38 to keep it sealed, and zero abstained.
According to Philippines News Agency, the issue revolves around the National Internal Revenue Code, which mandates that tax documents requested for congressional inquiry be examined in executive session and in aid of legislation. Some lawmakers argued that the impeachment proceedings do not meet these conditions. The BIR had submitted the sealed box to the Committee on Justice during the April 22 hearing in response to a subpoena issued to review allegations of unexplained wealth against Duterte, specifically whether her Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) accurately reflect her and her husband's assets.
Manila Rep. Bienvenido "Benny" Abante Jr. suggested the box should remain sealed and be left to the Senate to open during the impeachment trial, given the overwhelming evidence that the impeachment case will proceed to trial. However, other lawmakers, including Senior Deputy Majority Leader Lorenz Defensor of Iloilo and Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima, contended that the committee's request was not a simple congressional inquiry but a constitutionally mandated subpoena.
They emphasized that impeachment proceedings, as a mechanism for holding the highest public officials accountable, supersede the statutory requirements of ordinary legislation. De Lima, who earlier moved to open the box, reiterated her position during Wednesday's hearing, asserting that the committee has both the authority and constitutional mandate to examine Duterte's tax records, as these were subpoenaed by the House and directly relevant to the allegation of unexplained wealth.
Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre agreed, stating that the truth lies in the documents themselves and the only way to uncover it is to examine them, not to judge but to clarify, and to compare them against the Vice President's other financial records, including the bank transactions reported by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and her SALNs.
Meanwhile, Manila Rep. Joel Chua remarked that while opening the box falls within the committee's constitutional mandate, the panel should 'err on the side of caution for now' and exercise that power only when it becomes strictly necessary-after determining probable cause.
Deputy Speaker Janette Garin of Iloilo and Akbayan Party-list Rep. Chel Diokno also shared the sentiment, noting that the committee's immediate task is to determine whether probable cause exists, not to resolve the question of the sealed box, especially given that sufficient evidence has already been presented without it.
Other members who voted to keep the box sealed acknowledged the committee's authority to open it but cautioned that doing so could give the Duterte camp new grounds to question the proceedings on jurisdictional and procedural issues, potentially derailing the case, as happened with the first impeachment bid. The vote now effectively bars the committee from examining the financial documents during the impeachment proceedings in the House.
After the voting, Defensor moved to keep the sealed box as part of the official records and to transmit it to the Senate should the case reach trial, a motion duly seconded by the committee.
