Lacson says impeach court has no business keeping BIR box, orders return

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate, acting as an impeachment court, has no business keeping the so-called Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) green box purportedly containing the tax records of Vice President Sara Duterte, and should instead return it to the House prosecution panel, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said on Saturday.

Lacson said one of the agreements reached during Friday’s caucus of senators was to return the sealed box.

READ: Senators gather in caucus to tackle Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial

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“We have no business safekeeping evidence. Evidence should be presented by either the prosecution or the defense. They left the box with us, what are we supposed to do with it? We are a court,” Lacson said in a DZMM interview.

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“One of the things we agreed on was to return it because, first of all, keeping it would be against the law. It is not the impeachment court’s, or any court’s, role to unseal it,” Lacson said.

Lacson said Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero also agreed that the impeachment court should not be entrusted with the evidence before it is formally presented during the trial.

READ: BIR box remains sealed as VP Sara Duterte camp files comment

He added that the impeachment court must not decide whether to open or unseal the box, warning that doing so could expose the Senate to allegations of grave abuse of discretion.

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Citing the National Internal Revenue Code, Lacson said tax records, although considered public record, may only be disclosed upon written authority from the president or through a waiver from the respondent herself.

“They should not pass the burden of unsealing or opening the box to us. If the prosecution wants it unsealed, it should seek permission from the Office of the President. Not us, not the impeachment court. We will not do it,” Lacson said.

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He also questioned why the House prosecution panel accepted and transmitted the sealed box without first securing the authority required under the law.

READ: House panel defers opening box containing Duterte tax records

The issue over the so-called “BIR Green Box” traces back to one of the House justice committee’s hearings in April, when the BIR submitted a sealed box containing the tax records of Duterte, her husband, and their companies.

The box was later forwarded unopened to the Senate after a motion to open it failed during the panel’s initial proceedings.

The box is among the pieces of evidence that the prosecution seeks to present in relation to Article II of the articles of impeachment, which accuses Duterte of amassing unexplained wealth disproportionate to her lawful income and failing to truthfully disclose her assets, liabilities, and net worth.

Duterte’s impeachment trial is set to open on Monday, June 6. /das

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