House prosecutors questioned the defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte over its objection not only to opening a sealed Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) box but even to having it marked as evidence during the impeachment pre-trial.
Prosecutors said they had already reduced their request from opening the box to simply marking it as an exhibit, after the defense opposed its opening. However, they said the defense still rejected the request.
“Hindi ko nga maintindihan, eh, kayo ba? Ano bang nakakatakot doon sa selyadong BIR box na mamarkahan lang naman?” lead prosecutor Batangas Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro said.
Manila Rep. Joel Chua also challenged the defense to allow the evidence to be examined, saying there should be no objection if the contents are not incriminating.
“Kung wala namang itinatago, buksan na natin ’yung box. Kung malinis naman po ang kanilang konsyensya, eh di labas ang ebidensya,” Chua said.
The sealed box, submitted by the Bureau of Internal Revenue under subpoena from the House Committee on Justice, reportedly contains income tax records of Duterte and her spouse, which prosecutors say are relevant to allegations of unexplained wealth.
Rather than opening the box, the House transmitted it to the Senate impeachment court, leaving it to the tribunal to decide whether it should be unsealed.
Luistro said prosecutors initially sought to open the box for marking of its contents but later limited the request to marking the sealed container after objections from the defense. She said even this was opposed.
“Even the marking of the sealed box was opposed by the defense,” she said.
She added that prosecutors made a formal reservation, citing impeachment rules requiring evidence to be pre-marked during the pre-trial stage.
Former senator and Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima said the defense position was difficult to reconcile, noting that both sides had reserved BIR-related documents as potential evidence in their pre-trial submissions.
She questioned why the defense would oppose opening or inventorying the sealed box when it had also indicated BIR-related materials in its own evidence list.