Prosecution won’t present Lopez anymore: Testimony is redundant

MANILA, Philippines — Lawyer Lorna Kapunan has announced that the House of Representatives’ prosecution team will no longer present Office of the Vice President (OVP) chief-of-staff and Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez as a witness for the impeachment trial, as her testimony will only be unnecessary and a surplus.

During the trial on Tuesday, Kapunan — private counsel for the prosecution team — said that they think Lopez and Capt. Belinda Bello’s testimonies on the accusations that Vice President Sara Duterte made grave threats will be redundant to the examinations of two National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Senior Agent John Mark Calilung and Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc.

READ: Sara Duterte’s kill remark vs Marcos is ‘active threat’ – Palace

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Bello is an official of the House’s Legislative Security Bureau, involved in the security matters when Duterte was in the House in November 2024 — the same time the Vice President held a press briefing where she made the threats against ranking officials.

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“In the last four trial days, we’ve had several hours of legal calisthenics […] a total of approximately eight hours a day and two witnesses.  Today we are supposed to hear a subpoenaed witness and another witness subpoenaed or called to appear here, Capt. Belinda Bello,” Kapunan said.

“After hearing the two competent and credible witnesses — not expert witness, but through their credentials showed that that they were competent to testify on the matters that they were asked to authenticate […] 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 as Capt. Belinda Bello,” she added.

The prosecution panel originally intended to present Lopez as a hostile witness, as she is a key figure on the discussions for Article IV of the Articles of Impeachment — or the charge of betraying public trust after Duterte supposedly made grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.

For one, it was in the context of Lopez’s detention at the House premises last November 2024 — after she participated at the hearing of the House committee on good government and public accountability — that Duterte addressed the media in an online briefing.

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Lopez was cited for contempt for supposedly committing undue interference during the panel’s investigation of the alleged confidential fund misuse within Duterte’s offices.

As she was infuriated over Lopez’s detention and subsequent attempts to transfer her, Duterte badmouthed the Marcos couple and Romualdez.  At one point, Duterte was asked if she is concerned about her security; she replied by urging people not to worry since she had contracted an assassin to kill the three if she herself gets killed. /jpv

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