Private prosecutor and legal spokesperson Atty. Benjamin “Jay” Tolosa Jr. on Monday welcomed the defense team’s changed position on the sealed Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) box, calling it a positive step toward transparency after it earlier opposed the opening and even the marking of the box during pre-trial.
Tolosa made the statement as he was formally introduced as a member of the House private prosecution team in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Z. Duterte, which is set to begin on July 6.
The pre-trial conference officially ended last Thursday, with the Senate impeachment court now expected to issue the pre-trial order.
Under the rules, Tolosa said the impeachment court has 10 days to issue the pre-trial order, although it does not need to use the entire period.
“We’re expecting to receive that pre-trial order sometime soon, but definitely before July 6,” Tolosa said.
Tolosa said the remaining pending matters involve requests filed by the prosecution, with the opening of the BIR box being the most significant.
“Now, the only pending incidents are some requests that we filed,” Tolosa said. “I guess the most major among those is the opening of the BIR box.”
He said the defense had initially objected to the opening of the BIR box and even to the marking of the sealed box during pre-trial, but later changed its position in its formal submission.
“Last Thursday, as reported, the defense vehemently objected to opening and even just the marking of the box itself,” Tolosa said.
Tolosa said the defense later indicated that it was open to having the box opened, inventoried, and marked, subject to certain conditions.
“They changed their stance and said that they’re open to having the box opened and that we could conduct an inventory of its contents and we could mark the same, but under specific conditions,” Tolosa said.
According to Tolosa, the conditions include conducting the process in executive session and keeping the contents confidential from the public. He said the prosecution will leave those conditions for the impeachment court to resolve to avoid any delay.
Still, Tolosa said the shift in the defense position was welcome.
“Insofar as we’re concerned, we would like to take that as a positive step towards transparency,” Tolosa said.
He said the practical effect of the development is that the parties may finally be able to see what is inside the BIR box.
“At least now, 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,” Tolosa said.