House prosecutors have decided to forego presenting Zuleika Lopez, chief of staff of the Office of the Vice President, and another witness on Wednesday’s impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan told the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday that the prosecution panel deemed “totally unnecessary” the testimonies of Lopez and Capt. Belinda Bello, who is the executive director of the House Legislative Security Bureau.
“After evaluating through these two witnesses, 19 documentary evidence from agent [John Mark] Calilung and 45 documentary evidence from our recent witness, Atty. [Jeremy] Lotoc, and after the very clarificatory and probing questions of our senator-judges…it is the wisdom of the public prosecutors as expressed by this representation that we find it totally unnecessary, redundant, and a surplusage to still present Atty. Zuleika Lopez as well as Capt. Belinda Bello,” Kapunan said.
She was referring to the completed testimonies of the first two witnesses, John Mark Calilung and lawyer Jeremy Lotoc, who are both from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and who investigated the threat of Duterte to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former House speaker Martin Romualdez killed in case she ends up dead.
Calilung testified on his authentication of video clips where Duterte made those threats against Marcos, his wife and his cousin on Nov. 23, 2024. On the other hand, Lotoc presented NBI findings that Duterte issued “serious, real” threats and their recommendation that she be charged with three counts of grave threats and one count of inciting to sedition.
House detention center
Kapunan explained that the prosecution thought of presenting Lopez as a witness because she was inside the House detention center when Duterte said that she had hired someone to kill Marcos and the two others.
She reminded as well that private defense lawyer Mark Vinluan had mentioned 10 times the November 2024 online press conference.
Moreover, Kapunan said they did not need Lopez’s testimony because there were media personnel who were also present at the online briefing of Duterte, and for her to confirm the authenticity of the video because the defense panel had used it in their cross-examination of the two witnesses.
On Bello, Kapunan said her testimony was “merely corroborative” as she would only attest to the order to transfer Lopez, who was detained during the House inquiry into Duterte’s confidential funds, to the women’s correctional facility.
Need for speedy trial
She said the prosecution was “doing its part” to reduce the number of trial days, noting that senator-judge Panfilo Lacson had pointed out the need for a speedy trial.
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian thanked the prosecution for foregoing the testimonies of Lopez and Bello.
Gatchalian noted that he discussed with Senate presiding judge Francis Escudero over the expected lengthy trial, noting that after all, the prosecution intended to present 57 witnesses as against the defense’s 45 witnesses.
He warned that the impeachment trial could last up to 17 months or one year and five months on the two days they allot per witness.
“So any chance of shortening the proceedings will be appreciated,” Gatchalian said.
For Wednesday’s trial, Escudero said the impeachment court will rule on the House prosecutors’ motions to subpoena the bank and tax records of Duterte.
The prosecution team sought these records as part of their evidence in the impeachment case against the Vice President.
The court will give the prosecution and defense panels 15 minutes each to present their oral arguments per subpoena, and another 10 minutes each for rebuttal. CS
Read more: VP threats ‘serious, true, real,’ says NBI witness
