Court petition meant to question disclosure of documents, not impede process – Carpio camp

With the Quezon City Regional Trial Court denying the motion of Atty. Manases “Mans” Carpio on Thursday, his camp clarified that their motion was not necessarily intended to halt the impeachment proceedings undertaken by the House Committee on Justice.

“To clarify the case filed before the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City does not seek to stop, restrain, or interfere with the ongoing impeachment proceedings in Congress,” the camp said in a statement sent to reporters.

In its decision promulgated on 6 May, the QC RTC noted that it had no jurisdiction over the House Justice panel as it explained that the committee was its co-equal branch of the government, noting that the case should have been submitted to the Supreme Court.

It further maintained that the lawmakers within the panel were merely conducting their duty as mandated and protected under the 1987 Constitution which states that Congress has the “exclusive power” when it comes to impeaching public officials through the House of Representatives and the Senate.

However, Carpio’s lawyers said that the motion that they filed was concerned only with the disclosure of their client’s tax records that were brought by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) during the 22 April impeachment hearing.

They further expressed that the decision of the Justice Committee to defer the opening of the box containing the aforementioned documents supported their case, asserting that their position was “just, legal, and constitutional” under law.

“This only reinforces the consistent position that confidential tax documents cannot simply be disclosed without the strict compliance with the safeguards and limitations imposed by law,” they stated.

The camp mentioned that Carpio will continue to explore other legal measures to ensure that their rights to confidentiality would be constantly protected.

Unnecessary Disruption

Meanwhile, after hearing of the court’s dismissal of the case, Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon noted that the filing itself was merely an unnecessary disruption to the ongoing impeachment proceedings against the Vice President.

Ridon explained that documents such as tax records are considered public documents whenever subjected to investigative proceedings such as those undertaken in impeachment.

“Public document ang ITRs at iba pang tax documents, at hindi subject ng confidentiality at privacy kung nakasalang sa mga constitutional at investigative proceedings katulad ng impeachment,” 

(Income Tax Returns and other tax documents are considered public documents and are not subject to confidentiality and privacy when used in constitutional and investigative proceedings such as impeachment)

“Sa pagkakabasura ng kasong ito, panahon na para tutukan ang botohan ng impeachment sa darating na Lunes,” he added.

(With the trashing of the case, it is time to focus on the upcoming poll on the impeachment this coming Monday)