Amid concerns among senator-judges over the legal implications of unsealing the box containing the tax records of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, one legal solution has emerged: have the Senate first convene as a legislative body before endorsing the records to the Senate impeachment court.

Former Supreme Court associate justice Adolfo Azcuna told the DAILY TRIBUNE this is possible because the Senate, unlike the House Committee on Justice, may function both as a legislative body and as an impeachment court.

Senator Ping Lacson revealed over the weekend that senators from the majority bloc had agreed to return the contentious box to the House because “it is not the impeachment court or any court’s role to unseal it.”

On the other hand, Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero had earlier warned that the Senate impeachment court has no legal authority to keep, much less unseal, the box because that authority belongs to the House prosecution, subject to authorization from the President upon the recommendation of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Department of Finance, as required under the National Internal Revenue Code, or Republic Act 8424.

Azcuna, however, said the Senate impeachment court “can legally order” the opening of the box, although he acknowledged that doing so could raise privacy concerns.

Role-shifter

“Another solution is to refer the box to the Senate, as the legislative body, to open it in aid of legislation and, once opened, return and endorse it to the Senate as the impeachment court,” Azcuna said.

He added that, unlike the House justice panel, the Senate can shift from its legislative function to its role as an impeachment tribunal “at any time.”

The sealed green box from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) became one of the most disputed pieces of evidence during the pretrial stage, which concluded in late June.

The defense argued that opening it at that stage was premature and could violate the privacy rights of Manases Carpio, a private citizen.

As a result, the box was neither opened nor admitted as evidence during the pretrial conference.

House prosecutors consider the contents crucial to proving allegations of unexplained wealth under Article II of the Articles of Impeachment.

The BIR submitted the box to the House committee on justice in April in compliance with a subpoena.

Confidential

Lawmakers, however, declined to open it because of legal concerns and instead left the matter to the Senate impeachment court.

Under Republic Act 8424, tax records are confidential and may be disclosed only under limited circumstances, such as during executive sessions conducted in aid of legislation or with the taxpayer’s written consent.

Because impeachment proceedings are not expressly considered inquiries in aid of legislation, House prosecutors sought to have the Senate impeachment court open the box once trial proceedings began.

During the pretrial conference, prosecutors moved to open the box so its contents could be pre-marked as evidence supporting allegations of unexplained wealth and discrepancies in Duterte’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth.

‘Grave abuse’

The defense objected, citing taxpayer confidentiality and due process, and even opposed the pre-marking of the sealed box itself.

The pretrial proceedings ended without the box being opened or marked.

Lacson maintained that the House prosecution “should not pass the burden of unsealing the box” to the impeachment court.

He warned that doing so could expose the tribunal to accusations of grave abuse of discretion and complicate the impeachment proceedings, which begin Monday.