Courtesy: Manila Bulletin
THE House prosecution has dropped Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s chief of staff, Atty. Zuleika Lopez, and House Legislative Security Bureau Executive Director Capt. Belinda Bello from its witness list, saying their testimonies on the alleged threats were either no longer necessary or merely corroborative.
At the tail end of Day 5 of the Senate impeachment trial on Tuesday, private prosecutor Atty. Lorna Kapunan said the prosecution reached the decision after evaluating the testimony and documentary evidence presented through its first two witnesses, National Bureau of Investigation officials John Mark Calilung and Jeremy Lotoc.
“It is the wisdom of the public prosecutors, as expressed through this representation, that we find it totally unnecessary, redundant and a surplusage to still present Atty. Zuleika Lopez and, as well, Capt. Belinda Bello,” Kapunan told the impeachment court.
Kapunan explained that the prosecution had intended to present Lopez for three purposes connected with Duterte’s Nov. 23, 2024 online press conference, which is central to Article IV of the impeachment complaint.
“Had we been able to present Atty. Zuleika Lopez, she would have proven three things—or we would want to have proven three things,” Kapunan said.
First, Lopez would have testified that she was inside the House detention center when Duterte made the statements captured in the video marked as Exhibit P-4-10. The prosecution also intended to establish that media personnel were present and heard the Vice President’s remarks. Third, Lopez would have been asked to confirm the video’s authenticity and provenance.
Kapunan said Lopez was no longer needed for the first purpose because, during the proceedings, defense counsel Mark Vinluan acknowledged that the press conference took place, that Duterte and Lopez were present and that Duterte made the statements heard in the recording, while disputing the prosecution’s interpretation of the remarks.
“No need to present Atty. Lopez for this purpose,” Kapunan said.
The intended authentication of the recording had likewise become unnecessary, she said, because the defense itself used portions of the same video during its presentation.
“Totally unnecessary because, why? Because the defense themselves used the very same video, that exhibit, in their defense when they showed Atty. Zuleika crying and allegedly complaining about the violation of her human rights,” Kapunan said.
“So by their own admission, there is no question about this video,” she added.
Kapunan separately explained that Bello would have been called only to support evidence about the events preceding the online press conference. Bello’s proposed testimony concerned an order to transfer Lopez within the House detention facility, which became part of the context discussed during Duterte’s Nov. 23 broadcast.
“The testimony of Capt. Belinda Bello is merely corroborative. She would have been presented only to corroborate the fact that there was a transfer order made in the detention center and that transfer order had been the subject of the video or press conference of November 23, 2024,” Kapunan said.
The prosecution’s decision removed two witnesses from its planned presentation under Article IV, which concerns Duterte’s public statements against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and then-Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.
“We have reduced trial dates by lessening our presentation on this article by two witnesses,” Kapunan said.
Kapunan said the prosecution reached its decision after considering the evidence already presented, the examinations conducted by both sides and the clarificatory questions asked by the senator-judges.
“We have decided from the evidence presented and from everything in consideration that we will not present these two witnesses,” Kapunan said.
