Ridon: Sara Duterte’s husband seeks TRO on BIR docs subpoena

MANILA, Philippines — Lawyer Manases Carpio, husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, has asked for a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the subpoena issued by the House of Representatives’ committee on justice regarding their tax records.

Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said this in a statement on Monday, sending to reporters a copy of Carpio’s petition supposedly filed before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, with Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III and committee chairperson Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro labeled as respondents.

In the petition for prohibition and injunction, Carpio said that no government agency can subpoena the records of a private individual if not approved by the person being targeted, adding that “a private person’s tax returns are highly confidential in nature.”

But Ridon said that such a petition “cannot restrain the truth relating to their personal and business incomes,” adding that these are documents that can be summoned by the committee on justice.

“BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) documents are proper subjects of subpoena by the House Committee on Justice in the course of impeachment proceedings, as these records are relevant to the determination of whether the Vice President may have betrayed public trust, committed culpable violations of the Constitution, or committed other impeachable offenses,” Ridon said.

“The House Committee on Justice has the lawful authority to compel the production of documentary evidence relevant to its determination of whether probable cause exists to transmit Articles of Impeachment to the Senate,” he added.

According to Ridon, the tax records will be key in determining whether Duterte indeed filed her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) accurately.

“Claims of privacy and confidentiality cannot override the constitutional powers of Congress when exercising its impeachment functions and fact-finding authority pursuant to the Constitution and the House Rules on Impeachment,” Ridon said.

“Enough with the excuses.  The Duterte-Carpio tax documents will see the light of day during the House impeachment hearings,” he added partly in Filipino.

In the petition, Carpio said that the subpoena will reveal private information that are supposed to be “duly secured and guaranteed by his constitutional right to life, liberty and property and the equal protection clause.”

“They cannot expediently be released without notice to nor prior consent of the taxpayer.  In fact, Section 2702, R.A. 8424 [NIRC] criminally penalizes any BIR official or employee who ‘illegally’ invades or divulges any record, data or information of a taxpayer,” Carpio said.

“This is sealed by the Data Privacy Act’ securing the targeted taxpayer’s data privacy,” he added.

The tax documents were among the pieces of evidence that were the subject of subpoenas from the committee on justice.  Last April 6, the panel issued a subpoena for BIR Commissioner Charlito Martin Mendoza, along with Duterte’s tax compliance and income statements, along with her and her spouse’s certified true copies of income tax returns.

Duterte’s SALNs for several years — from her stint as Vice President and during her tenure as Davao City mayor and vice mayor — were also the subject of the committee on justice’s subpoenas.

The subpoena was requested after Ridon claimed in a previous committee hearing that Duterte’s net worth from 2008 to 2024 rose by over 1,000 percent, saying that her SALN in 2008 showed a net worth of P18.49 million, rising to P77.50 million in 2023, and then P88.51 million in 2024.

In a message to reporters after the hearing, Ridon clarified that there was a 378 percent increase from her net worth of P18.40 million in 2008, to P88.51 million in 2024.

However, if based on Duterte’s 2007 SALN — the first year that she became a public official — the jump from a net worth of P7.2 million to 2024’s P88.51 million represents a 1,120 percent spike.

READ: Docs show VP Duterte’s net worth rose over 1,000% – Ridon

Several allegations have been raised against Vice President Sara Duterte ever since different House committees checked the alleged anomalous confidential fund (CF) expenditures within her offices.

There were also a lot of hearings regarding these issues, but on Tuesday, April 14, the country for the first time will see evidence against Duterte examined, as the committee on justice expects several documents and witnesses to appear after they issued different subpoenas.

READ: Sara Duterte impeachment: Docs, witnesses to be examined on April 14

Aside from the April 14 hearing, two more hearing dates have been identified — April 22 and 29.  Luistro previously said that if the committee needs more dates to examine the evidence, they will set additional hearings. /jpv