‘SC can’t block VP tax records’
Like Corona, Duterte is accused of deliberately failing to truthfully and accurately declare her net worth and properties
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Like Corona, Duterte is accused of deliberately failing to truthfully and accurately declare her net worth and properties
The camp of Vice President Sara Duterte cannot contest in the Supreme Court (SC) the legality of the possible release of her tax records if no less than President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself gives his imprimatur to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to produce it for the Senate impeachment court.
This is primarily because Section 71 of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) empowers the President to allow the production and inspection of income tax returns despite their being strictly confidential, according to impeachment court spokesperson Atty. Reginald Tongol on Thursday.
“That power is provided by law,” Tongol told reporters in a virtual briefing. He answered in the affirmative when asked if the opening could not be legally challenged in the SC if the situation arose.
According to Tongol, the scenario mirrors the 2012 impeachment case against the late former SC chief justice Renato Corona who was found guilty by the Senate impeachment court of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution for failing to accurately fill in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).
At the time, then Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares presented the confidential income tax returns and records of Corona to the court after securing the mandated clearance from then President Benigno Aquino III.
The Senate impeachment court compelled the disclosure of Corona’s SALN to investigate the discrepancies alleged by the prosecution.
“That was the process followed back then, which is why the presentation of tax records during the Corona impeachment trial was clear,” Tongol explained.
Corona precedent
Under the Tax Reform Act (RA 8424), which amended the NIRC, 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.
Like Corona, Duterte is accused of deliberately failing to truthfully and accurately declare her net worth and properties, which constitute an impeachable offense.
House prosecutors have sought to compel the disclosure of the income tax returns and bank records of Duterte and her husband, Atty. Manases Carpio, to the Senate impeachment court which will hear allegations that she acquired unexplained wealth under Article II of the Articles of Impeachment.
The move has been met with strong objection from Duterte’s defense team since the pre-trial conference, citing the right to privacy as Carpio is a private citizen.
In April, the House justice panel subpoenaed Duterte and Carpio’s income tax returns. Although the BIR produced it to the committee, the lawmakers did not open the box and instead turned it over to the Senate along with the Articles of Impeachment to prevent legal complications with privacy laws.
The Senate impeachment court returned the unsealed box to the BIR on the first day of the trial on 6 July because it was not entered as evidence during the pre-trial stage.
However, the prosecution remained headstrong about scrutinizing Duterte’s financial records and asked the Senate impeachment court to compel it from the BIR.
‘Fatally overbroad’
The court’s decision was supposed to be handed down last Wednesday, 15 July, but this was deferred to Monday, 20 July, after the senator-judges asked for an extension to peruse the opposing stances of the prosecution and defense in their memoranda.
Lawyer Michael Poa, a former aide of Duterte and now a member and the spokesperson of the defense team, contended that the prosecution’s request must be denied on the grounds that it is “fatally overbroad.”
Poa said the prosecution wants an “unlimited search” through Duterte’s financial history, as they asked the impeachment court to compel her bank records as far back as 2007, or almost two decades, which he argued is not permitted by the law.
“To compel AMLC (Anti–Money Laundering Council) officials to disclose such information would be to compel them to violate the law,” he said during the oral arguments on Wednesday.
House prosecutor Chel Diokno, however, did not buy Poa’s reasoning, asserting that there are specific provisions in the law that allow the disclosure of financial records, particularly if compelled by the impeachment court.
No request yet
Under Section 2 of the Bank Secrecy Law (RA 1405), all deposits are considered absolutely confidential in nature except in cases of impeachment.
“There is no doubt the impeachment court has the right to scrutinize VP Sara’s bank records,” Diokno responded.
Diokno contended that even the Data Privacy Act (RA 10173) “affirms that confidential information shall not apply should the information be needed pursuant to a subpoena fully issued.”
Malacañang on Thursday said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has yet to receive a request to authorize the opening of the sealed BIR box in the impeachment trial of Vice President Duterte.
