House prosecution panel: Open BIR box ‘in the interest of justice’

MANILA, Philippines — The House prosecution panel on Friday reiterated its call to open the sealed Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) box containing Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s tax documents, saying the impeachment proceedings provide the appropriate opportunity to examine and identify the records before trial.

House impeachment trial spokesperson and Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said the documents should be opened during the impeachment proceedings in the interest of justice.

“This is the proper time, this is the proper venue, and in the interest of justice, let us open the box,” Adiong said during a Zoom press briefing.

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READ: Bantug tells prosec, defense moves on BIR box during impeachment pretrial

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Alonto Adiong said the prosecution has formally asked the impeachment court to allow the supervised opening of the sealed BIR box, whose contents have been identified by both parties as reserve evidence in the impeachment case.

“The prosecution has also asked the impeachment court to open the BIR box that contains tax documents of the vice president,” he added.

The House leader from Lanao del Sur clarified that prosecutors are not seeking the immediate admission of the documents as evidence but only their supervised opening so they can be identified and marked before trial.

“We are not asking for these pieces of evidence to be admitted immediately. What the prosecution is requesting is a supervised opening so that the documents can be examined and marked, making the discussions during the impeachment trial more orderly and easier to conduct,” Alonto Adiong said.

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The sealed box contains tax documents listed by both the prosecution and the defense as reserve evidence in the impeachment case.

The prosecution has said the tax documents could help establish whether the Vice President’s declared income is consistent with her reported assets and wealth, an issue central to the article of impeachment alleging unexplained wealth and discrepancies in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs).

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Prosecutors also maintain that impeachment proceedings fall under the recognized exceptions to the confidentiality of tax information, making the request to open the box legally permissible.

According to the prosecution, opening the box under the court’s supervision would allow both parties to identify and mark the documents before the formal presentation of evidence begins on July 6, without prejudging whether they will ultimately be admitted as evidence during the trial proper.

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