Twenty-five years ago, the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, refused to open the infamous second envelope containing information on the bank records of then president Joseph “Erap” Estrada, who was on trial for impeachable offenses stemming from massive corruption allegations. It was a procedural victory for Estrada’s defense, but a catastrophic defeat in the court of public opinion. To many Filipinos, the vote was an attempt to bury the truth and shield the powerful from accountability. Overnight, it ignited EDSA Dos, a three-day political uprising that ultimately toppled the Estrada administration.
Today, the Senate, once again convened as an impeachment court, faces its own second envelope moment as it hears the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte. Last Wednesday, House prosecutor and Akbayan Partylist Rep. Chel Diokno led the prosecution in asking the court to issue subpoenas for the Vice President’s and her husband’s bank and tax records, as well as other financial documents relevant to the impeachment article alleging unexplained wealth, false statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) and other inaccurate financial disclosures.
Chel concluded his request with the powerful line: “Hindi confidential ang katotohanan.”
Sara’s defense team predictably cried “due process.” It dismissed Diokno’s motion as a “fishing expedition,” arguing that the request was “fatally overbroad” because it covered nearly two decades. It further contended that Sara’s husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, is “not an impeachable officer” and therefore cannot be compelled to disclose records under the impeachment exception to the Bank Secrecy Law.
Diokno countered that the Senate impeachment court has both the constitutional authority and judicial precedent to issue such subpoenas. He pointed to the impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona, during which the court ordered the production of Corona’s bank records and even admitted evidence predating his appointment to the Supreme Court. Diokno then reminded everyone that the legal foundation for that ruling was shaped in part by questions raised by then senator-judges Alan Peter Cayetano and Francis “Chiz” Escudero.
That piece of history, which Diokno reminded us of, exposed Cayetano’s position on the matter as hypocritical and an attempt to delay. Widely seen as behaving more like an additional member of Sara’s defense panel than an impartial senator-judge, Cayetano urged the court to postpone deciding on Diokno’s subpoena request. His reason? He supposedly needed more time to untangle the distinct legal issues involving bank secrecy, tax laws and the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), and he hoped that other senator-judges would do the same.
Really, Pokémon?
This is the same Alan Peter Cayetano who, together with his sister, seldom misses the opportunity to lecture their senator-judges on how to behave and remind everyone of their legal pedigree, suddenly finds the prosecution’s subpoena request, anchored on a precedent he himself helped establish, complex and worthy of more study. What was it the Cayetanos once asked their fellow senator-judges with characteristic condescension? “Wala ba kayong mga staff?” Apparently, the question now deserves to be asked of them in return.
Funny. Fourteen years ago, Cayetano aggressively pushed to open Corona’s bank records in the name of accountability. Today, with an ally as the accused, he has suddenly discovered the virtues of caution. Alan Peter may have grown a beard, but what he really needs is to grow up into a passable, decent human being.
Perhaps sensing that another Cayetano spectacle is about to consume the court proceedings, especially after he attacked National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag over news that the agency will probe irregularities surrounding the 2019 SEA Games, presiding officer Escudero chose to defer the court’s ruling, giving senator-judges more time to study the prosecution’s request.
And so, here we are. The prosecution’s request to subpoena Sara’s bank records hangs in the balance. When the Senate impeachment court resumes proceedings tomorrow, a fierce legal battle is expected. Sara’s defense team, aided by allied senator-judges within the court, is expected to mount every available argument to block the request.
This may well be the most consequential vote of the entire trial, aside from the final vote on whether to convict or acquit Sara. It is not merely a decision on whether to open the Vice President’s bank records, it is a judgment on the senator-judges themselves and on the integrity of the impeachment court. If the Senate impeachment court once again shrinks from opening financial records, it risks sliding back into the very hell that Alan Peter helped drag it into only months ago.
This is precisely why the public must remain vigilant. Sara’s camp appears to be banking on the public’s short attention span. One of the apparent strategies of the defense is to bore the public to death with their endless procedural objections, legal technicalities and calculated delays. Boredom is their weapon. Public disengagement is their objective.
We must not allow them to succeed. Let’s send the resounding message: open Sara’s bank records.
Twenty-five years ago, the second envelope became the enduring symbol of an institution that chose expediency over accountability. The Senate paid dearly for that decision. It would be a tragic irony if, after all these years, it allowed itself to be dragged back into that same abyss, helped along by none other than Alan Peter Cayetano, the second-shortest serving and worst Senate president in our history.