July 15, 2026 | Senate Impeachment Court, Pasay City
For the first time since the trial opened, no witness took the stand. The sixth day of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial was devoted entirely to oral arguments on the prosecution’s request for subpoenas covering the bank records, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) records, and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) records of the Vice President and her husband, Atty. Manases Carpio — documents the prosecution intends to use for Article II of the Articles of Impeachment, which accuses her of unexplained wealth and assets undeclared in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).
Each side was given 15 minutes to argue and 10 minutes for rebuttal, after which the senator-judges went into a private caucus. Here are the highlights of Day 6:
Defense: Subpoenas would breach secrecy laws — ‘Impeachment is not a magic wand’
Defense counsel and spokesperson Atty. Michael Poa argued that the request would violate confidentiality laws, citing the Anti-Money Laundering Act, the AMLC’s General Principles of Information Exchange, the National Internal Revenue Code, and the Law on Secrecy of Bank Deposits. “The issue before the impeachment court today is whether you possess the power to issue a subpoena. The real issue is whether such power may be exercised in a manner that disregards due process and compels the production of documents and information beyond what is allowed by law,” Poa told the court. He warned against turning the trial into a “fishing expedition” and declared: “Impeachment is not a magic word or a magic wand that one can just wave to transform an illegal act into a legal act, to transform unlawful access into lawful access.”
Poa noted that the NIRC penalizes disclosure of taxpayer information and does not list impeachment among its exceptions, while the bank secrecy law’s impeachment exception is “not automatic”: “This exception does not dispense with constitutional safeguards. It does not abolish the right to due process.”
Prosecution: ‘The truth is not confidential’ — Diokno
Arguing for the prosecution, Rep. Chel Diokno asserted the court’s power to pierce confidentiality in pursuit of accountability: “Nothing can handcuff this court.” Speaking in Filipino, he told the senator-judges that their sole and exclusive power to try impeachment cases “includes the power to uncover the whole truth,” adding: “It is easy to say that certain information and documents are confidential. It is easy to cite the law. But what the impeachment court is seeking now is the truth… The truth is not confidential.”
Diokno countered Poa point by point: the AMLA provision cited by the defense covers leaks by AMLC members and “was never intended to short-circuit the impeachment process”; tax records were made available in the 2012 Corona impeachment trial through a presidential order; and the bank secrecy law itself expressly allows disclosure in impeachment cases. He also argued that the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Vice President’s first impeachment bid hinged on a different process and does not bar the present course.
Threats predated Lopez’s detention — prosecutors
Pushing back on the defense narrative that the Vice President’s November 2024 remarks were provoked by news that her chief of staff Zuleika Lopez would be transferred to the Correctional Institution for Women, House prosecutors pointed out that her alleged threats predated Lopez’s detention. Private prosecutor Atty. Lorna Kapunan, meanwhile, said she regretted not examining Lopez on the stand after the panel dropped her as a witness — but stressed it was “not the last chance” to do so.
‘Chilling effect’: Cayetanos, Padilla slammed timing of NBI’s SEA Games probe
The day opened with manifestations from senator-judges raising alarm over NBI Director Melvin Matibag’s public announcement that the bureau is probing some P10 billion in allegedly unliquidated funds for the 2019 SEA Games Clark complex — made just days before Matibag himself testifies on July 20. Senator-Judge Alan Peter Cayetano, who chaired the 2019 Games organizing committee, said he does not oppose an investigation but questioned its manner and timing, telling the court: “If the intention was to have a chilling effect, we already have that chilling effect.” The announcement came a day after Cayetano criticized Matibag for seeking to move his trial testimony.
Senator-Judge Pia Cayetano warned the move could be read as pressure on the court: “There is no jurisdiction in the world that allows a judge to be pressured and intimidated.” Senator-Judge Robinhood Padilla, citing the recent detention of Senators Rodante Marcoleta and Jinggoy Estrada, asked whether the timing was mere coincidence: “Dapat po ba kaming mangamba at tayo po ay parang eksakto naman lahat ito? Di ba po tayo ay malayang korte?” Matibag, for his part, maintained the SEA Games probe has nothing to do with Cayetano or the impeachment trial.
Manifestations on the withdrawn witnesses; Tongol defended the coming vote
The court also took up the prosecution’s manifestation formally withdrawing Zuleika Lopez and Capt. Belinda Bello as witnesses, with prosecutors standing by the move as a bid to avoid redundancy and speed up the trial. Senate impeachment court spokesperson Atty. Reginald Tongol, meanwhile, said it would be unfair to characterize the upcoming vote on the bank and tax records as a “conviction vote” — it is a procedural ruling on evidence, not a verdict.
What Happens Next
After the oral arguments and caucus, the impeachment court set its ruling on the subpoena request for Monday, July 20 — the same day NBI Director Melvin Matibag is scheduled to take the witness stand on Article IV. The prosecution expressed confidence it has enough evidence against the Vice President even if the tax subpoena is denied. The trial resumes Monday at 2 p.m.
Previous Trial Days
• Day 1 (July 6): The Senate formally convened as an impeachment court; Sen. Chiz Escudero was elected presiding officer, ruled that 16 votes are needed to convict, and both panels delivered their opening statements.
• Day 2 (July 7): The prosecution opened its case on Article IV; first witness NBI Senior Agent John Mark Calilung authenticated the videos of the Vice President’s November 2024 “kill” remarks, and prosecutors bared plans to call the Vice President herself as a hostile witness.
• Day 3 (July 8): The defense cross-examined Calilung, who admitted no personal knowledge of any alleged hitman; the court granted subpoenas for OVP Chief of Staff Zuleika Lopez, while prosecutors sought the Vice President’s bank and tax records.
• Day 4 (July 13): NBI’s Atty. Jeremy Lotoc testified the alleged threats were “real” and “serious” and not covered by free speech; “Operation Romanov” took center stage, with the NBI admitting it found no validated information on the alleged hitman.
• Day 5 (July 14): Lotoc completed his testimony after the warning-versus-threat debate; the prosecution dropped Lopez and Bello as witnesses and shifted its sights to the Vice President’s financial records.
• Day 6 (July 15): Financial records and subpoena requests took center stage as both panels argued over bank and tax secrecy; the court will rule on July 20.
