Youth advocates are pushing the Senate impeachment court to grant subpoena requests for the bank and tax documents of Vice President Sara Duterte, asserting that transparency is critical to maintaining accountability throughout the trial.
Gathering outside the Senate after the weekly flag ceremony, members of the Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK) urged senator-judges to approve the disclosure of Duterte’s financial records as the court prepares to deliberate on the matter.
The youth group rejected claims from Duterte’s defense lawyers that unlocking these files would be intrusive and unjust, countering that any official accused of corruption must face exhaustive examination.
“It is the State’s primary obligation to investigate and prosecute all instances of government corruption, it must leave no stone unturned. These documents are vital in ensuring that the full picture of Duterte’s financial history as a public official is divulged and scrutinized by the Filipino people,” SPARK said.
SPARK cautioned that lawmakers who vote against the subpoenas would effectively be shielding allegedly corrupt public figures from accountability.
“Any senator callous enough to vote no seeks to evade accountability, not just for the sake of the Vice President, but also for themselves. They are equally as corrupt,” the group said.
Reiterating their call for Duterte’s conviction, the organization highlighted alleged anomalies and the misuse of government funds during her vice presidency.
“Duterte cannot hide behind her defense panel nor the senator-judges who are lawyering for her. In fact, the impeachment proceedings demonstrate a very crucial fact: there is no greater time than now to hold all public officials involved in corruption and remove them from office as soon as possible. Lahat ng sangkot, dapat managot,” SPARK added.
The group also called on investigators to pursue all corruption allegations impartially, regardless of political alliances.
The protest happened ahead of scheduled oral arguments in the Senate impeachment court regarding the House prosecution’s request to access Duterte’s bank logs, alongside the tax histories of her husband, Atty. Mans Carpio, and 22 entities linked to the vice president.
Senate impeachment court spokesperson Atty. Regie Tongol stated that both prosecution and defense panels will have 10 minutes to present their arguments before the senator-judges decide on the subpoenas.
House prosecutors maintain that impeachment trials serve as an exception to the Bank Secrecy Law. They are requesting Duterte’s financial files from 2006 to 2025, which include documentation from banks and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).
Conversely, the defense argues that Carpio cannot be subjected to these demands since he is not an impeachable officer.
They also emphasize that the request improperly spans years outside Duterte’s current term and violates taxpayer confidentiality rules under the National Internal Revenue Code.