The Senate impeachment court’s ruling on whether to subpoena the bank and tax records of Vice President Sara Duterte in her ongoing impeachment trial was deferred after senator-judges asked for an extension to peruse the memoranda containing the opposing stances of the prosecution and the defense.

The decision was supposed to be handed down on the sixth day of the trial on Wednesday. However, after an hour and a half caucus, the consensus reached was to move the ruling on Monday, 20 June, to allow senator-judges to review further the extensive arguments submitted by both parties regarding the requested financial disclosures.

“The senator-judges agreed to study the matter further, given that not everyone has completed reading the memoranda submitted by the parties, and given that they want more time to examine the complicated issues involved in these two motions for the issuance of subpoenas,” Senator Francis Escudero, presiding officer, said.

Each senator-judge would be given a maximum of 10 minutes to propound questions to the rival camps about the relevance of the disclosure of the financial records to the trial.

House lawmakers deferred the disclosure to the Senate impeachment court. However, it met strong objections from the defense.

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 explicitly considered inquiries in aid of legislation, House prosecutors deferred the opening of the box during the trial.