Manila: The impeachment court will vote separately on the prosecution's motions seeking Vice President Sara Duterte's bank and tax records but will decide each motion as a whole, presiding officer Senator Francis Escudero clarified Monday.

According to Philippines News Agency, Escudero stated that the court would not divide the motions into individual requests and vote on each item separately, as doing so could make the senator-judges appear to be reshaping the prosecution's case. "The court will act on these two motions separately regardless of the number of issues or sub-issues underneath each motion," he explained during the seventh day of Duterte's impeachment trial.

The clarification came after Senator-Judge Joel Villanueva inquired whether the court could selectively grant or deny requests within a motion based on their respective legal and factual grounds. Villanueva noted that regular courts may address individual requests rather than treating a motion as an "all-or-nothing proposition." However, Escudero emphasized that splitting a motion into several parts would exceed the impeachment court's role as a passive and impartial tribunal. "By amending the motion into several parts and voting on it separately, we are essentially acting as if we were one of the parties," he stated.

Escudero further advised that senator-judges should consider all arguments presented by both the prosecution and defense before deciding to grant or deny each motion in its entirety. He referenced the impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona, during which then-Senate president and presiding officer Juan Ponce Enrile ruled that motions were indivisible and could only be appealed in full, not in part.

The House prosecution panel is seeking access to Duterte's bank and tax records as part of its presentation of evidence in the impeachment case.