VP impeach hearing takes up SALN, SEC, BIR papers—and Trillanes
The committee on justice of the House of Representatives has obtained copies of Vice President Sara Duterte’s statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), as well as documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), in time for today’s hearing on the impeachment complaints against her.
Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon, who confirmed their receipt on Tuesday, said the SALNs cover the period from 2022 to 2024, while the SEC papers pertained to two companies mentioned in them, namely Gencorp Industries Inc. and Timesquare Bee Foods Corp.
The SALNs were provided by the Office of the Ombudsman as requested by the panel.
In the 2024 statement, Duterte listed real properties in her name and that of her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, with a total value of P66.80 million, as well as personal properties of the couple worth P31.65 million, for total assets worth P98.46 million.
Under liabilities, Duterte listed loans incurred by Carpio worth P1.950 million from various creditors and another worth P8 million from an unnamed bank. This put Duterte’s total net worth that year at P88.51 million.
Possible ‘perjury’
“Some of [the documents] are very interesting, Ridon said.
While Gencorp appeared in her 2024 SALN, he said, in the SEC records “Duterte is not listed as a stockholder of Gencorp from 2021 to 2024.”
Ridon said this could mean that either Duterte or Gencorp committed “perjury’’ as one document said she was a stakeholder while the other did not include her name among the stockholders.
“I guess only the Vice President can explain that…. Actually we were also shocked. We are waiting for the Vice President to explain why she placed that (in the SALN) when she is not listed among the stockholders of record. The minimum issue here is that someone actually perjured themselves,’’ he said, adding:
“It would be good if she will attend, the committee is open to listening to her and her defense and explanation regarding these things.”
Expected to appear in today’s hearing is former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a staunch critic of the Dutertes, who has accused them of amassed ill-gotten wealth and filed complaints against Carpio for graft and drug smuggling.
Also summoned by the committee is the chair of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), Eli Remolona Jr., who has been asked to bring any record of Duterte or Carpio’s financial transactions that had been flagged by the council.
Luistro: Carpio petition ‘moot’
Today’s hearing will also touch on the tax documents of the Vice President and her husband, according to the committee chair, Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro.
Luistro confirmed that the BIR had forwarded the couple’s income tax records and other documents earlier sought by the panel.
The BIR’s compliance with the committee’s subpoena should render Carpio’s court petition to block the submission “moot and academic.”
She was referring to the petition Carpio filed on April 13 asking the Quezon City Regional Trial Court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the panel’s subpoena for his and his law firm’s income tax returns.
In his filing, Carpio argued that the subpoena would violate his rights under the Data Privacy Act, saying such documents could not be made public “without notice to nor prior consent of the taxpayer.”
Aside from their income tax returns, the panel will take up SEC papers like the “general information sheet and the audited financial statements of the declared business establishments of the spouses,” Luistro told reporters on Monday.
The fourth and final hearing calendared by the House panel to determine probable cause in the impeachment complaints is set for April 29.
4th legal challenge
Meanwhile, another group of lawyers asked the Supreme Court to stop the House impeachment proceedings, echoing the position of Duterte defense lawyers that the hearings were merely a “fishing expedition” to beef up or cure defective complaints.
The latest petition for a TRO came from lawyers Hue Jyro Go, Micah de Guzman and Jake Leoncini, who filed a petition for certiorari on Monday.
It was the fourth legal challenge against the House hearings, accusing the panel of abusing its authority.
“Instead of confining themselves to their constitutionally mandated role of evaluating the impeachment complaints as filed, the committee relaxed governing standards, tolerated fatal defects, and proceeded on the erroneous premise that deficiencies in the pleadings may be cured through subsequent evidentiary search,” the petition read.
The petitioners represented in the filing by the Go & De Guzman law offices and RRV legal consultancy firm.
Named as respondents were Luistro and Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III.
The Vice President herself has asked the Supreme Court to nullify the House hearings. Two more similar petitions were filed earlier, one by lawyer Israelito Torreon on March 27 and the other by Jerryl Rondez-Layog on April 10. —WITH A REPORT FROM KATHLEEN DE VILLA
