Context Dispatch

The Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, on Monday ordered banks to produce the peso account records of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Manases Reyes Carpio, from 2007 to 2021, as House prosecutors seek to use these documents to prove whether she amassed alleged ill-gotten wealth. The court also subpoenaed the financial records of 19 corporations and one partnership linked to the couple, along with relevant documents from the Anti-Money Laundering Council, all to be submitted by July 30. It likewise allowed the production of the couple's income tax returns for the same period to establish their financial baseline, a key issue in one of the Articles of Impeachment. The ruling, issued by presiding officer Senator Francis Escudero, appeared to stem from an earlier caucus. But no vote tally was disclosed, and it remained unclear whether the senator-judges formally voted on the subpoenas.

Two Filipino seafarers have been killed, 12 injured and one remains missing following separate drone attacks on commercial vessels in the northern Black Sea, prompting renewed calls for shipping companies to avoid the high-risk route. Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac said one Filipino died in a July 6 attack and another on July 19, with efforts underway to recover the missing seafarer and repatriate the victims. Since the attacks began, nine ships carrying Filipino crew have been hit. Four injured seafarers have returned home, while eight remain under medical and psychological care. The other 124 Filipino crew members are safe. (Marjohara Tucay)

Buying a house? Settling an estate? Transferring shares? All of it just got a little less confusing. 

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has expanded the government's Unified Package for Livelihood, Industry, Food, and Transport (UPLIFT) program to cover 7.5 million households as it moves to cushion families from higher fuel and living costs triggered by tensions in the Middle East. The new financial assistance will cost at least P25 billion until the end of 2026. The expanded package provides a one-time P2,000 cash aid to 3.5 million beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and Walang Gutom program, a P2,000 monthly subsidy from July to December for 1.5 million low-income Social Security System members, and extended assistance to 2.5 million poor and near-poor households identified under the 2024 Community-Based Monitoring System. The administration is also seeking the swift passage of the proposed UPLIFT law.

Batangas Rep. Gerville Reyes-Luistro, the ead prosecutor in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, told the Senate that it will not longer call 5 witnesses, including two journalists, in the articles covering grave threats and sedition. She said the withdrawal of witnesses was necessary since they will testify to facts already established during the testimony of previous witnesses. The Senate, acting as impeachment court, granted the prosecution's motion and welcomed it as a step toward the speedy disposition of the vice president’s trial. Presiding officer, Senator Francis Escudero, however, ordered that future withdrawals of witnesses shouldn’t be explained since the defense can’t confront the witnesses, or the manifestations of the prosecution that lead to conclusions of law.