MANILA — The camp of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio said Sunday it is setting aside political survey results and concentrating exclusively on defending her before the Senate impeachment court, while preparing to contest the use of her tax, bank and Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) records as evidence in the trial.
Defense spokesperson Michael Poa said the legal team has no intention of relying on fluctuating public opinion surveys, stressing that its priority is the impeachment proceedings rather than political ratings.
“There are other surveys that came out yesterday… it shows that the rating of our Vice President is high,” Poa said.
He added that survey findings should not be viewed as definitive measures of public sentiment.
“We’re not too reliant on surveys… We’ll look at what questions were asked,” he said.
Poa said Duterte-Carpio herself had instructed the defense panel to avoid distractions from political developments and remain focused on the legal battle.
“The Vice President also told me not to really look into the political anymore. We just focus on our legal work,” he said.
The statement came after Malacañang attributed Duterte-Carpio’s lower ratings in a recent OCTA Research survey to what it described as public disapproval of her position on the impeachment proceedings.
Poa, however, maintained that other recently released surveys showed higher approval and trust ratings for the vice president.
The defense also reiterated that it would continue questioning the admissibility of Duterte-Carpio’s tax, bank and AMLC records, despite the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s release of her tax documents following authorization from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
According to Poa, the legal team will examine whether the disclosure complied with the exceptions allowed under existing tax laws.
“Our focus here in the legal team is that it’s already there. It is what it is. There’s an approval. Now, whether that approval already complies with the exceptions under the tax code, that’s one thing that we’ll look at,” he said.
He argued that tax, bank and AMLC records remain protected under law unless all legal requirements governing their disclosure have been satisfied.
Poa also defended the defense panel’s limited cross-examination of prosecution witnesses during the previous hearing, saying there was no need to challenge the authenticity of documents presented by former Land Bank officials.
“We don’t dispute anything because the documents are there,” he said.
Instead, he said the defense focused on clarifying testimony regarding the use of a fire exit during one of the cash withdrawals, rejecting any suggestion that the route indicated wrongdoing.
Looking ahead, Poa said the prosecution has yet to establish where the confidential funds allegedly went, adding that future hearings are expected to address that issue.
He also confirmed that prosecutors had earlier indicated they might present ‘Mary Grace Piattos’ as a witness. While the defense is prepared to cross-examine any witness presented, Poa declined to discuss operational matters involving aliases, saying such issues should come from the witnesses themselves rather than from lawyers./PN
