Senator Alan Peter Cayetano seeks review of subpoena requests for VP Duterte's bank, tax records

Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday called for a more thorough review of the prosecution's requests to subpoena financial and tax records linked to Vice President Sara Duterte, saying the impeachment court should first resolve the legal questions surrounding each type of document.

During the sixth day of Duterte's impeachment trial, Cayetano noted that the motions cover several categories of records, including bank documents, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) files and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) records involving the Vice President, her husband Manases Carpio and their companies.

"So although I do believe that we have exclusive jurisdiction, sometimes the Supreme Court has defined certain parameters that we have either crossed or not," he said.

Cayetano said he was not prepared to cast a blanket vote either approving or rejecting all the requests because each raises different legal considerations.

"I cannot vote unless I see that there are no issues with anything. Then, if there are no problems, let's vote, that’s fine. But speaking for myself: there might be no issues with the banks and AMLC, yet there is a problem with the BIR. Or perhaps there is no issue with the BIR, but there is one regarding the spouse," he said in Filipino.

He suggested giving both the prosecution and defense additional time to respond to the legal concerns raised during oral arguments and said the senator-judges could set aside another day next week for further discussions if needed.

Presiding Officer Francis "Chiz" Escudero, however, clarified that the impeachment court is only considering two pending motions—one covering the bank and AMLC records, and another involving the BIR documents—and that the senator-judges would most likely vote on each motion in its entirety rather than on individual issues.

-Paraluman News