VP Trial: Prosecution flags possible privacy breach in defense presentation

MANILA – The House prosecution on Friday raised a possible privacy violation after the defense of Vice President Sara Duterte publicly displayed the names of Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) officers during cross-examination in her Senate impeachment trial.

House prosecution counsel Erwin Matib raised the issue after lawyer Anne Loraine Garcia-Marquez, chief of staff of BIR Commissioner Charlito Martin Mendoza, expressed concern over the exposure of revenue officers’ identities in Letters of Authority (LOAs) presented by defense lawyer Kristine Ferrer.

“We manifest, Your Honor, that there has been a violation of the privacy of the people involved, Your Honor. Their names were flashed on the screen for everyone to see,” Matib said.

Garcia-Marquez earlier called the court’s attention to the disclosure, saying the officers’ names should have been concealed.

“Napakita po kasi ’yung name ng mga revenue officers (The name of the revenue officers were shown). It should have been redacted,” she said.

Presiding officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero assured her that the names would be removed from the documents submitted to the impeachment court. “We will redact it in the document that will be submitted to the court,” Escudero said.

“But it was already flashed on the screen. ’Yung concern ko din (My concern also), Your Honor, is the names,” Garcia-Marquez replied.

Escudero said the court would examine the matter and consult Garcia-Marquez before excusing her as a witness. The exchange followed Matib’s earlier questioning of the defense’s decision to publicly display confidential tax audit documents while challenging the BIR’s authority to release tax records to the impeachment court.

“We put on record that it was the defense who put on the screen these LOAs, which according to them are supposed to be confidential,” Matib said.

Ferrer maintained that Duterte had the right to consent to the disclosure of her own tax information. The LOAs, both dated April 29, 2026, authorized examinations of Duterte’s tax records covering 2006 to 2025 and those of her husband, lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio, covering 2014 to 2025.

VP Sara, husband under comprehensive tax audit by BIR

Garcia Marquez confirmed the two LOAs. The LOA for the Vice President contains the heading, “Full examination of books of accounts and other accounting records” and covers “all internal revenue taxes for the period from 01/01/2006 to 21/31/2025 pursuant to RATE (Run After Tax Evaders) Program.”

The LOA issued for Carpio has the same heading and coverage (all internal revenue taxes) but for a shorter period, “from 01/01/2014 to 12/31/2025 pursuant to RATE Program.”

“It is requested that all required documents, books and records be provided to the revenue officer(s) to expedite the tax examination,” the two LOAs stated.

The LOAs were received on May 29 by Carpio Lawyers, apparently the law office of the Vice President’s husband.

Ferrer said under revenue regulations, a LOA is good for 180 days.

That means the tax examination authority would lapse in the third week of November this year, she said, which Marquez confirmed.

Ferrer asked Marquez if she was aware of any preliminary assessment report or a letter of demand issued to the Duterte-Carpio couple in connection with the tax audit.

In response, Marquez said she was aware of the progress of the tax examination but could not reveal anything about it as this is prohibited under Revenue Memorandum Circular 28-2006, “from the time na-issue po ang LOA (the LOA was issued) up to collection.”

The records are part of the prosecution’s evidence concerning Duterte’s alleged unexplained wealth. During Thursday’s hearing, Garcia-Marquez presented BIR records showing that Duterte and Carpio reported combined net income after taxes of PHP85.34 million from 2007 to 2025.

The prosecution has questioned those earnings in relation to Duterte’s declared net worth of PHP98.66 million in her 2025 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, a comparison disputed by the defense. (PNA)