Defense forgoes playing entire infamous Duterte press conference

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense team on Wednesday opted not to play her full online press conference that became infamous in 2024.

Instead, it presented selected clips featuring the Office of the Vice President’s chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez.

During yesterday’s proceedings, Duterte’s defense counsel had objected to the House prosecution panel’s presentation of excerpts from the same video.

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The material included a clip of Duterte allegedly threatening President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife Liza, and his cousin, former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

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READ: LIVE UPDATES: Impeachment trial of VP Sara Duterte | July 8, 2026

According to the defense, the entire 2-hour video should be shown, rather than only selected portions, to provide the context in which Duterte’s utterances were made.

But during the defense’s cross-examination of NBI Senior Agent John Mark Calilung the next day, the counsel now also decided to only play certain parts of the video.

“We will play various parts of the video, not the whole,” said defense counsel Atty. Carlo Narvasa.

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“We understood by the faces of the honorable members of the court,” he candidly added.

Like the prosecution panel, the defense provided timestamps of the clips they presented during the cross-examinations.

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The clips shown and authenticated with the witness were Lopez’s portion in the online press conference, where she was expressing fear for her life while under House custody after being cited in contempt.

The defense then asked Calilung whether the clips of Lopez presented were also considered by the NBI in its investigation of the alleged “grave threats” committed by Duterte, to which Calilung responded in the affirmative. /apl

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