While Vice President Sara Duterte’s husband, Atty. Manases “Mans” Carpio, said he respects the Senate impeachment court’s decision to allow the disclosure of his and Duterte’s financial records, he and his legal team are currently seeking legal remedies to contest the move.
During a Friday interview on Balansyado, Atty. Neil Abayon, Carpio’s spokesperson, asserted that the disclosure of highly confidential documents that may potentially be unrelated to the impeachable offenses may be used for political persecution.
“Madaming legal questions that should be really addressed. Otherwise, puwede siya magamit talaga for political persecution purposes. I-divulge lang, ta’s hindi ma-relate, ano pa ‘yung magagawa ng respondent?” he told the anchors.
He explained that it would be unfair to the couple if the general public, many of whom are not equipped to distinguish between tax and criminal cases, were to be privy to their tax records.
“Hindi rin po automatic ‘yun na porket may tax deficiency ka, that’s already unexplained wealth. That’s a completely different issue. So ‘yun ‘yung possible na magkahalo-halo kasi, tapos in the eyes of the general public, pag hindi nila ma-gets ‘yung difference nun, ‘yung distinctions between tax cases and criminal cases, unfair ‘yun,” the lawyer said.
Not only would this tarnish Duterte’s reputation as a public official, it would also negatively affect Carpio’s credibility as a practicing lawyer, Abayon pointed out.
Furthermore, unlike his wife, Carpio is not an impeachable officer but a private citizen, he said.
Earlier, the spokesperson explained that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), following the subpoena duces tecum issued by the impeachment court, released a Letter of Authority (LOA) to enable the bureau to review Duterte and Carpio’s records, make clarificatory questions, and so on.
Should the unreviewed records be disclosed during the trial—where prosecutors and senator-judges are seeking conclusory evidence while the BIR itself is also examining the documents for discrepancies with the cooperation of the concerned individuals—the court and bureau may come to conflicting conclusions.
So far, the BIR has not found tax deficiencies in Carpio’s records, he added.
“Wala pang sinabi ‘yung BIR na may tax deficiency sina Atty. Mans. So ‘yung dilemma lang namin, kung preliminary palang sa BIR, tapos idi-disclose doon sa impeachment, parang possible magka-conflict kasi doon magkakaroon ng conclusions, pero doon sa BIR, puro preliminary palang ‘yung nangyayari,” he said.
Another issue Abayon sees with the disclosure of documents is the possibility of revealing documents that may contain damaging information, even if it is not related to the offense being deliberated upon.
“‘Yung second issue po, diba mayroong test of relevancy din nung evidence, whether or not it relates to the impeachable offense during the term? E paano kung hindi nila ma-relate pero dinivulge na nila ‘yung confidential documents? So unfair din po ‘yun,” he explained.
Abayon recommended that the records be opened to the court in a confidential setting, via executive session.
