Ridon: Subpoena for VP Duterte financial records backed by Constitution

Rep. Terry Ridon FILE PHOTO / Grig C. Montegrande Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon on Saturday said the prosecution is confident that it can convince the Senate impeachment court to subpoena the financial records of Vice President Sara Duterte, citing a constitutional mandate. “Our basis here is not a mere ordinary law. Our basis for the power of the Senate impeachment court to issue a subpoena is the Constitution itself. They have the power to subpoena documents and people to get to the truth,” he said at the weekly Saturday News Forum in Quezon City. “I think this cannot be obstructed by any confidentiality provisions of a mere ordinary legislation,” he added. Article continues after this advertisement The court deferred its decision last week on whether to subpoena Duterte’s bank and tax records, with senator-judges given until Monday, July 20, to study the oral arguments of the prosecution and defense panels. No fishing expedition Defense lawyer Michael Poa had urged the court to reject the request of the House prosecution to issue the subpoena, saying the move was a “fishing expedition” made in the hope of discovering incriminating material. Granting the request, he argued, would violate due process, privacy rights and statutory confidentiality. Akbayan Rep. Chel Diokno, on the other hand, said the Constitution has given the court the “sole and exclusive power to determine an impeachable offense, and that includes the power to uncover the whole truth and make your decision based on it.” Responding to Poa’s argument, Ridon said on Saturday that “there was no fishing expedition when it was a whale that was found.” He noted that banks previously flagged P6.7 billion worth of transactions linked to the Vice President and her husband. Article continues after this advertisement He added that it was important to examine Duterte’s financial records even before she became the Vice President to establish a “baseline” when measuring her wealth and to trace how it increased from when she was vice mayor, and later mayor, of Davao City. “We cannot have a credible view of the unexplained or explainable wealth of the Vice President or any other impeachable official if we would only use their current term as basis. Our hopes are high that we would be able to convince the court on the basis of why we need to subpoena these documents,” Ridon said. Article continues after this advertisement The lawmaker said that when it comes to issuing a subpoena for Duterte’s bank accounts, there should be “no debate” since the bank secrecy law provides “very clear exception” in cases of an impeachment trial or impeachment proceedings. He noted that Duterte has declared in her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) from 2019 to 2024 that she has no cash on hand or in bank. “In the event that the bank accounts are opened within the periods of 2019 to 2024 and there is money, even just P1 in those bank accounts, it is a clear lie in her SALN, a clear SALN violation, it is a clear impeachable offence [for] betrayal of public trust,” Ridon said. No confidentiality As for reports from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and records from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the lawmaker said the court should be able to issue a subpoena for these documents since they are not protected by confidentiality. “The basis of the objection, for example in the AMLC, is there is confidentiality in the documents. But we need to be clear, the provision they are speaking of, there is a provision after it regarding information exchange between different agencies, so it is not true that there is absolute confidentiality among AMLC documents,” Ridon said. He also rejected objections to the opening of the BIR records, noting that the defense was arguing that it can only be opened “in aid of legislation” and the impeachment proceedings is an “entirely different type of work by the legislature.” But if this was the case, Ridon said, such a rule should also apply to tax evasion cases filed in courts across the country that do not involve impeachable officials. Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again. Your subscription has been successful. “That is also not true. Again, we will go back to the constitutional power of the Senate impeachment court to subpoena documents to get to the truth,” he said. INQ