Prosecutors on cutting Article 4 witnesses: We already got the right mix

MANILA, Philippines — If the slow pace of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial benefits the prosecution panel, then why has it decided to withdraw all its witnesses for Article IV except for National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag?

The prosecutors gave different answers during a press briefing on Wednesday, but it all boiled down to one thing: anything excessive is bad.

House of Representatives prosecutor and Iloilo Rep. Lorenz Defensor said that he believes that they have established their case, and any addition may just be problematic — comparing it to cooking where having so many ingredients may affect a meal’s taste.

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“The taste is now right, if you will add more ingredients, the taste might be different, so we will stop already,” Defensor said.

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Lead prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro said that he supports Defensor’s view — that everything should be in balance.

“Reason why we will be proceeding to the presentation of evidence for Article I, on confidential funds is because we believe that we have established already our case in Article IV, that is threat.  Noy (Defensor) said something earlier, I will add to that: everything excessive is bad, we should be exact,” Luistro said.

Even lawyer Lorna Kapunan, counsel for the prosecution team, gave the same advice — albeit in the context of marriage.

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True to her advice on Tuesday night that women should just not marry, Kapunan said that people should not love too much.

READ: VP Duterte’s financial activity surged in public office – Diokno

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“Even in love, to the women, reminder: do not marry, too much love is also destructive.  Maybe even with the length of the interview, that will be your takeaway, Atty. Kapunan said do not love too much,” Kapunan said.

During the trial on Wednesday at the Senate, Luistro announced before the Senate Impeachment Court they will no longer call the following six individuals to the witness stand:

representatives from Philippine National Police (PNP) Firearms and Explosives office

Reuters reporter Mikhail Flores

Rappler reporter Bonz Magsambol

former Sheriff Abe Andres

family member of a victim of threats

a psychiatrist

The PNP representative would have attested to the ability of Duterte to carry out the threats, while the the reporters were present during the November 23, 2024 online press briefing where the Vice President said that she has talked to someone about killing President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.

Andres, the relative of a person threatened, and the psychiatrist were all supposed to testify on Duterte’s alleged tendencies to be violent.

“Considering that these five witnesses are included in our pre-trial order, your Honor, we respectfully withdraw their names among the prosecution’s witnesses for Article IV – threat,” Luistro said.

This is not the first time that the prosecution withdrew its witnesses.  On Tuesday, Kapunan announced that they 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.

Along with Lopez, Kapunan said they will no longer call Capt. Belinda Bello of the House’s Legislative Security Bureau to the witness stand, as it will be redundant to the examinations of two NBI officials, Senior Agent John Mark Calilung and Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc.

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.

Lopez, meanwhile, witnessed Duterte’s alleged threats made while she was detained at the House’s detention facility.

Turning serious, Defensor echoed Kapunan’s pronouncements on Wednesday — that it is also good to know when to stop.

“We always have to balance and like what Atty. Lorna (Kapunan) said, you should always know when it’s the right time to stop, and we think this is the best time to stop as the allegations from the Articles of Impeachment have been clearly explained and has been repeatedly mentioned through evidence presented,” Defensor noted.

“The reason for the withdrawal is because we have a strong case.  The evidence is complete.  And as we said, everything excessive is bad, so let us proceed to the next article,” Luistro added.

Article IV deals with Duterte’s threats in the press briefing, which happened while Lopez was detained at the House premises.  Lopez’s detention came after she was cited for contempt by the House committee on good government and public accountability, for supposedly committing undue interference during the panel’s investigation of the alleged confidential fund misuse within Duterte’s offices.

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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. /mr