Legal showdown looms over Sara’s BIR ‘green box’

House prosecutors are bracing for a legal battle over a sealed box containing Vice President Sara Duterte’s tax records, even as the Senate formally cleared all procedural hurdles to open her impeachment trial on July 6.

- By DAPHNE GALVEZ

Following the conclusion of the five-day pre-trial conference on Thursday, the House prosecution panel questioned the defense team’s strong opposition to opening and even marking a sealed Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) box containing the income tax returns of the Vice President and her husband, Manases Carpio.

Prosecutors consider the documents vital to proving the Article of Impeachment regarding unexplained wealth, as the tax records would establish the couple's income.

When the defense objected to opening the container during the pre-trial, prosecutors compromised by asking the court to simply mark the sealed box as an exhibit to ensure its admissibility for the trial proper. However, the defense rejected that proposal as well, invoking due process.