//SIMILAR PAGE 1 STORY // Sara Duterte’s counsel ‘not averse’ to opening BIR box – De Lima

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Sara Duterte’s counsel in her impeachment trial shifted stance and agreed to unseal a box containing her tax records, but requested it be examined in executive session, members of the House prosecution team said on Monday.

In a media briefing, Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima said Duterte’s defense team is now open to allowing the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) box to be marked and registered by the Senate impeachment court, after objecting against it last week.

“They seem to be saying that they are not averse to the opening of the BIR box,” she said.

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Prosecutors have pressed to unseal the box’s contents, but De Lima questioned why the document’s marking should remain cloaked in secrecy.

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“It is the prosecution’s right at this point to really mark those exhibits as it is included in our evidence,” de Lima, an impeachment prosecutor, said in mixed English and Filipino. “[But] why does an executive session still need to be held?”

A green cardboard box holding the tax records of Duterte and her husband, lawyer Maneses Carpio, was left unopened by the House committee on justice after it was received during a series of hearings in April. It was sealed with tape, and the signature of BIR Commissioner Charlito Mendoza were affixed around it to prevent tampering.

READ: Duterte impeachment trial: Prosecutors seek leeway to present evidence

During the House’s clarificatory hearings, financial documents such as her net worth statements and an Anti-Money Laundering Council report on her bank transactions were disclosed, and lawmakers view the BIR box as vital to tying those records together and strengthen the unexplained wealth allegations against her.

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READ: Ex-SC spokesperson, top lawyers join House prosecution panel

“The prosecution will really insist that the BIR box should be opened, and its contents should be seen,” said de Lima.

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She said the impeachment court is not immediately weighing the relevance of the BIR box in the hearings if unsealed, but is merely marking it for cataloguing and examination by both prosecution and defense teams.

“Is an executive session really necessary, if that’s the only thing that will be done,” de Lima said.

Lawyer Benjamin Tolosa, Jr., a legal spokesman for the prosecution team, said Duterte’s legal team did not specify when the container holding her tax records should be opened, only agreeing in principle to have it marked as evidence.

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“Insofar as we’re concerned, we would like to take that as a positive step towards transparency,” he said in the same media briefing. “Compared to their original stance of not even allowing us to mark it, now at least we will finally be able to see the contents of that BIR box.” /cb