The complete public disclosure of Vice President Sara Duterte’s tax and bank records are vital information to address various issues in her ongoing impeachment trial at the Senate, a civic group said.

In a statement on Monday, 20 July, a group called “Bantay Impeachment” pitched their call to senator-judges tasked with determining whether to grant the request of the House Prosecution Panel concerning the issuance of subpoenas on Duterte’s financial records.

Bantay Impeachment expressed that it was important that such documents were shown through public platforms, noting that the people were closely tuned in to the developments of the proceedings.

“We are calling on the senators to open and disclose to the public the contents of the tax and bank account records of Vice President Duterte through a televised and livestreamed hearing at the Senate,” the group said.

“Their vote on this issue is an indication of what side they are on,” they added.

Stressing the need for the documents, Bantay Impeachment referenced the findings of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) that were revealed through the impeachment hearings conducted through the House Committee on Justice.

There, AMLC reported that the joint accounts of Duterte and her husband Atty. Manases “Mans” Carpio accumulated P6.7 billion pesos in covered and suspicious transactions from 2005 to 2026.

During the same proceeding, it was also found that the Vice President was unable to properly declare her cash on hand from a period of 2019 to 2024 on her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).

For the impeachment watchdog, the issue could only be properly addressed if the Senate would allow the prosecution to utilize the financial documents as one of the pieces of evidence for the impeachment.

“We need to see her tax records so we can see the data concerning their assets. If the tax and bank account records of VP Duterte remain undisclosed, the hearing will lose its purpose and essence,” they explained.

Bantay Impeachment further emphasized that a public disclosure of the bank and tax records of Duterte could ultimately decide whether she gets convicted or acquitted in the constitutional process.

“The primary call to determine the weight and accountability of VP Duterte is to publicly disclose her financial transactions that can show funds that are more than her legal income and the amount of undeclared funds on her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN),” they said.

“If this gets proven, the verdict against VP Duterte will be certain,” they noted.

The civic group would also reiterate its call not only to the public, urging people to closely monitor the proceedings and to hold senator-judges accountable through showing that their every decision was being watched.

It underscored that the process of accountability, particularly when it comes to alleged misuse of public funds was crucial as every peso that was stolen from corruption was funding that was taken from services that could assist the people.

Last Wednesday, 15 July, impeachment presiding judge Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero said that the Senate will decide on the matter of the issuance of subpoenas on the requested documents of the prosecution this Monday as he opted to allow senator-judges to have time to ask questions to both parties.