Bid to present Matibag deferred amid objection from senators, defense

MANILA, Philippines — The prosecution’s request to present National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag as a witness for Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial ahead of his scheduled appearance has been deferred, after senator-judges and members of the defense panel objected.

At the resumption of the trial on Monday, House of Representatives public prosecutor and Iloilo Rep. Lorenz Defensor said that they will request that Matibag’s testimony and questioning be scheduled on Tuesday, July 14, as the NBI head will attend a regional summit on transnational crime hosted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Royal Thai Police.

Defensor was referring to Matibag’s letter, which was released to the media over the weekend, where he told lead public prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro of his request to be presented earlier, ahead of July 20, which will be his departure for the regional summit.

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“In that regard your Honor, the prosecution would like to request that the scheduled testimony of NBI Director Melvin Matibag be scheduled tomorrow after the testimony of our second witness, Atty. Jeremy Lotoc,” Defensor said.

“After we have dispensed with the testimony of NBI Director Matibag, we can proceed with the schedule of witnesses as provided in the list (given) to the senator-judges, your Honor,” he added.

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After objections from Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano and Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, presiding officer Senator-judge Francis Escudero said he would defer a decision on the matter pending the prosecution’s submission of Matibag’s letter and other relevant documents.

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This allowed the prosecution to start presenting their next witness, NBI Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc who was part of the team that investigated Duterte over her threats against ranking officials during an online press briefing last November 23, 2024.

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“With the permission of Senator-judge Cayetano and the Senate President, may we defer our ruling on this matter and ask the council for the prosecution to submit to us the letter given to you by Director Matibag for us to be able to look at it, copy furnished of course the counsel for the respondent, so that we can adequately go over it, and hopefully come up with a ruling before the day is over,” Escudero said.

Grounds for opposition

The prosecution wants to present Matibag regarding Article IV of the Articles of Impeachment, which deals with Duterte’s threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.

But according to Cayetano, there might be a dangerous precedent if Matibag is presented earlier than scheduled, as the reason government agencies have several deputies is to ensure that offices are well represented when attending to other concerns.

Cayetano also pointed out that senator-judges themselves have set aside several important foreign and local trips to focus on the impeachment proceedings, but the same standard supposedly does not apply to Matibag.

“That’s why you have undersecretaries, that’s why you have deputy directors, so I mean, I admire the patience of the prosecution but even the prosecution, they have a way of timing and laying down the witnesses eh  […] we put aside so many important things, and then one witness who is in the government, who is a bureau head, will tell us sorry, but because he has to be with the FBI, he will go first tomorrow? That might be a bad precedent, Mr. Presiding Officer,” he added.

Defensor said that they will just advance Matibag’s presentation for a day, as he was scheduled on Wednesday.  However, Escudero reminded Defensor that it was the latter who told the Senate Impeachment Court that Matibag will not be among their witnesses for the second week.

“With due respect, Congressman, Rep. Defensor.  I asked that question last week, if Matibag will be one of your witnesses this week and you said no, in fact you corrected Atty. Ligutan, when he mentioned Director Matibag as one of your witnesses and instead gave me a list of Lotoc, Zuleika Lopez, and Capt. (Belinda) Bello,” Escudero said.

“Matibag was not included, in fact I don’t think we issued a subpoena for Director Matibag for this week given your manifestation after you took over, given that you have, as you said, control and supervision over the private counsel for the prosecutors.  So he is not in your list this week, he is not being advanced,” he added.

Lawyer Mark Vinluan, a member of Duterte’s team of lawyers, said they oppose this move because it would violate the five-day notice rule, a policy agreed by both sides under which witnesses each camp plans to present must be announced five days in advance.

“It will be — again, as mentioned by Senator-judge Cayetano — a violation of the five-day notice rule, since while he was subpoenaed the week before your Honor, we are learning that he will be presented this week.  So the five-day rule, five-day notice will not be observed,” Vinluan said.

“It will also violate our right to cross-examine intelligently, we have done our best to prepare for their witnesses, however, these last minute changes really affect the preparation involved, your Honor and insofar as laying down the case that we want to establish,” he added.

Gatchalian said it is not only the prosecution or the defense that prepares for the trial, adding that senator-judges also studied the question they have to pose to witnesses.

“I support the statement of Senator-judge Alan Cayetano because not only the counsels of the prosecution and the defense are preparing, even the senator-judges are preparing, and to be honest during the weekend many of our senator-judges studied what kind of questions they can ask of witnesses who will be presented this week,” he said.

“That’s why if they will suddenly insert witnesses, our senator-judges are not prepared with their questions as they cannot read the documents and evidence attached with the witness.  That’s why it’s hard that we have prepared for a list of witnesses but there will be surprises we are not prepared for,” he added.

Article IV of the Articles for Impeachment deals with threats allegedly made by Duterte against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.

In an online briefing last November 23, 2024, Duterte lashed out at the Marcos couple and Romualdez after her chief-of-staff, Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, was detained within the House premises.  At one point, Duterte told a vlogger that they should not worry about her security as she has already contracted an assassin to kill the President, the First Lady, and the former Speaker.

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Lopez’s detention came after she was cited for contempt by the House committee on good government and public accountability of the 19th Congress, for allegedly committing undue interference during the panel’s investigation into alleged misuse of confidential funds within Duterte’s offices. /mr