Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said Saturday the Senate, acting as an impeachment court, has no authority to keep or unseal the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) “green box” containing Vice President Sara Duterte’s tax records, stressing that only the President’s written authority or a waiver from Duterte herself can permit disclosure under the National Internal Revenue Code.
“They should not pass the burden of unsealing or opening the box to us. If the prosecution wants it unsealed, it should seek permission from the Office of the President. Not us, not the impeachment court. We will not do it,” Lacson told dzMM.
He questioned why the House prosecution panel transmitted the sealed box without first securing the required authority.
“One of the things we agreed on was to return it because, first of all, keeping it would be against the law. It is not the impeachment court’s, or any court’s, role to unseal it,” Lacson said.
Lacson added that Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero concurred that the impeachment court should not be entrusted with evidence before it is formally presented.
“We have no business safekeeping evidence. Evidence should be presented by either the prosecution or the defense. They left the box with us, what are we supposed to do with it? We are a court,” Lacson said.
Senators agreed in caucus Friday to return the sealed box to the House panel. # (ZIA LUNA)
