THE Senate Impeachment Ccourt on Tuesday welcomed the House of Representatives prosecution team’s decision to streamline its presentation of evidence on Impeachment Article 4 against Vice President Sara Duterte, citing the need to speed up proceedings.
The prosecutors dropped two planned witnesses-Office of the Vice President chief of staff Zuleika Lopez and House Legislative Security Bureau official Belinda Bello-saying their testimonies would only corroborate evidence already presented.
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian noted that based on pre-trial submissions, the court could hear as many as 102 witnesses, warning that at the current pace of two witnesses per day, the trial could stretch to about 17 months.
‘At the rate we are going-two witnesses per day-we will finish in 17 months. That’s a year and a half or a year and five months to be exact,’ he said.
‘So any chance of shortening the proceedings will be highly appreciated,’ he said.
Impeachment Court Presiding Officer Francis Escudero echoed the sentiment, thanking the prosecution for dispensing with additional witnesses.
Article 4 charges the Vice President with grave threats and inciting sedition in relation to the assassination threats she made against President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos and former Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez.
The prosecution informed the Impeachment Court of its decision on the fourth day of the trial, when the defense ended its two-day cross-examination of NBI Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc.
Lotoc and NBI Agent John Mark Calilung are witnesses on Article of Impeachment 4, on which the impeachment court has given the prosecution 11 trial days to present its evidence against the Vice President.
Private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan told the Impeachment Court that the statements of Lopez and Bello that would potentially corroborate the testimonies of Lotoc and Calilung have already been covered by declarations and evidence presented by the two NBI officers during the first four days of trial.
She said, in the interest of time, the prosecution was therefore no longer calling Lopez and Bello to the witness stand.
She urged the defense to make a similar gesture.
Calilung authenticated the video recording of the Nov. 23, 2024 online press conference of the Vice President, during which she threatened to have President Marcos, his wife and then Speaker Romualdez assassinated if she herself were killed.
She claimed she had talked to a person to carry out her threats and that the unidentified individual said yes.
Lotoc, who headed a team that investigated the threats, told senator-judges they were ‘serious, real and actual’ and that the Vice President was capable of carrying them out.
The prosecution intends to strengthen its evidence on Impeachment Article 4 with the testimony on Monday of NBI Director Melvin Matibag.