MANILA – The House prosecution panel will ask the Senate Impeachment Court to address the opening of a sealed box containing the alleged tax records of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband in its comment on the court’s pre-trial order, panel spokesperson and adviser Ace Barbers said.

The prosecution had earlier requested the Senate Impeachment Court to authorize the opening of the box for inventory and allow its contents to be pre-marked as evidence before trial.

However, Senate Impeachment Clerk of Court Renato Bantug Jr., who presided over the pre-trial conference, said he had no authority to rule on the request. The matter was also not included in the court’s pre-trial order.

The sealed box, which was brought by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) during the House Justice Committee’s hearings on the impeachment complaint against Duterte, has remained unopened due to questions over whether doing so would violate confidentiality provisions under the National Internal Revenue Code.

“Kailangan ma-resolve kasi nga ‘yan. Unang-una, ‘yung BIR box na ‘yan, isang controversial na ebidensya na dapat sa paniniwala at paninindigan ng prosecution team, dapat mailatag at makita ito ng ating mga kababayan,” Barbers said.

“Dapat siguro ito ay makikita sa open court kasi ebidensya ito na magpapatibay dun sa aligasyon. At kung ito naman ay hindi mabigat na ebidensya para patunayan ‘yung alegasyon ng prosecution, eh magiging magandang depensa ito naman sa panig ng defense. So it will work both ways, either favorably to the prosecution team or favorably to the defense team,” he added.

Barbers also said the prosecution would raise another issue omitted from the pre-trial order—its request to allow both public and private prosecutors to participate in the examination of witnesses.

“In the previous impeachment proceedings, talaga namang pinayagan ang private at of course ang public prosecutor to actively participate in the examination of the evidence as well as the witnesses. So hindi ito bago and I don’t see any reason why they will object to this or the other side will object to this,” Barbers said.

The parties have been given three calendar days from receipt of the pre-trial order to submit their comments.

Separately, Barbers dismissed allegations that the impending plunder case against Sen. Rodante Marcoleta was intended to prevent him from taking part in Duterte’s impeachment trial.

“This has nothing to do with the impeachment. ‘Yang kasong kakaharapin o ipapataw sa kanya ay sa aking paniwala personally na walang kinalaman dito sa usapin ng impeachment… Sinususugan ko lang y’ung sinabi ng Ombudsman na… ang kasong kakaharapin niya, ay nanggaling mismo ang ebidensya mismo kay Sen. Marcoleta,” Barbers said.

He added that claims linking the case to the impeachment proceedings could be a “diversionary strategy.”