The Senate Impeachment Court is set to hear this week the oral arguments on the requested subpoenas for Vice President Sara Duterte’s tax records from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), as well as documents coming from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and from other establishments relevant to the issue regarding her unexplained wealth and misuse of confidential funds within the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd).

Also, the Impeachment Court is expected to hear testimony of Zuleika Lopez, Duterte’s Chief of Staff as it resumes the trial this week. The Court earlier issued a subpoena against Lopez and required her to appear at the next scheduled hearing which is on Monday, July 13, 2026.

Lopez’s appearance in the trial was sought by the House prosecution panel in lieu of the fourth Article of Impeachment against Duterte, which is about her supposed grave threats against President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

She briefly visited the Senate last Thursday, after the impeachment court said it would summon her for next week’s trial.

Lopez had only said “Prepare for typhoon Inday” but did not disclose the purpose of her visit to the Senate.

In an interview on Sunday, July 12 over Radio DZBB, Senator-judge Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said he will not support any moves to unseal the so-called “green box” from the BIR without President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s written authority as required under the law.

Lacson said he cannot take part in any action that would violate Sections 71 and 270 of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) and established Supreme Court (SC) jurisprudence.

The senator reminded his colleagues that the Senate Impeachment Court is not above the law.

“If it is 'forcibly' unsealed without the written authority of the President, I will vote against it. That will be my personal vote, because I do not want to be blamed in the future for taking part in violating the law,” Lacson said in English and Filipino in the radio interview.

“My position is clear. Without the written authority of the President, I cannot support the unsealing,” he stressed.

Lacson clarified, however, his position does not mean he is favoring Duterte’s legal team, saying his stance on seeking the President’s approval on the “BIR box” do not reflect his political stance on the impeachment.

“I am not favoring the defense. I am invoking the law and that is clear,” he explained.

“Even if we are an Impeachment Court, we cannot be above the law,” Lacson stressed.

Impeachment records now available on Senate website

Meanwhile, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian announced that all documents and filings related to the ongoing impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte are publicly available through the Senate’s website.

The Senate leader said the move is to ensure transparency in the ongoing proceedings as making pertinent documents available for public scrutiny is a necessary safeguard to protect the Upper Chamber’s institutional integrity.

“We invite the public to scrutinize, read, and understand the proceedings for themselves. We realize that while we, at the upper chamber, sit as senator-judges, the ultimate judges of this impeachment proceeding are the Filipino people,” Gatchalian said.

He further said that by maintaining a comprehensive digital repository of the impeachment proceedings, the Senate can ensure that the Filipino people are able to verify the evidence themselves, rather than relying solely on what they see on social media.

Accordingly, Gatchalian said he already instructed the Senate Secretariat to ensure that the necessary resources are available to upload documents and filings as quickly and efficiently as they are introduced during the trial.

“We will ensure that all documents and evidence are accessible to the public, as they have already been uploaded to the Senate website,” he said.