THE first week of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial laid the foundation for its grave threat charge and transformed the allegations into evidence, the House prosecution team said.
The team also said putting National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Senior Agent John Mark Calilung on the witness stand achieved the first objective of the prosecution’s strategy of placing authenticated digital evidence on record.
Calilung authenticated the video recording of the threat made by the vice president to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Marcos, and former speaker Martin Romualdez.
During a forum on Saturday, Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima, a member of the prosecution panel, said the team has shifted from asserting allegations to proving them.
“We saw first week as allegations turning into evidence. Every prosecution starts with allegations and must end with proof,” de Lima said.
She added that the succeeding witnesses will reinforce the authenticated recordings, explain the significance of the evidence, and present the findings of the NBI investigation.
Akbayan Party-list Rep. Jose Manuel Diokno, another member of the prosecution, said their approach is like building a house, with the first week spent on laying the foundation.
“What happened during the first week of the trial was the laying of the foundation of the case, particularly with respect to Article IV. In the coming weeks, what we will see is the house itself being built,” Diokno said.
Prosecution spokesman and adviser Robert Ace Barbers said Calilung established the evidentiary groundwork for the prosecution.
The succeeding witnesses, including NBI Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc, are expected to build on that groundwork by explaining the importance of the authenticated recordings and the results of the bureau’s investigation, Barbers said.
Barbers said the use of the same recording by the defense has reinforced the prosecution’s view that the video’s authenticity is no longer under question.
“And this alone gives the impression that the video is authentic because there is only one video in question — only one video was used,” he said.
The defense panel said it was still possible for them to show the entire two-hour video press briefing of Duterte as part of their legal strategy.
Speaking to the ABS-CBN News Channel on Friday, the defense team spokesman Michael Wesley Poa said they will stick to their plan to show the entire press briefing to provide context on why the vice president uttered the threat.
Putting the threat into context is important, Poa said. “Is there really a threat? and if it’s not a threat, how did we get to that utterances?”
Asked if the defense was “dribbling the ballgame” over the video, Poa said the decision to show the video in its entirety would depend on the nature of the witnesses’ testimony.
He also defended the objections raised by defense counsel Carlo Joaquin Narvasa during the direct examination of Calilung, saying that lawyers need to object to protect the rights of their client.
“If we don’t object, then we waive the objection that matters,” Poa said.
Poa said Duterte never made a decision on whether she would attend her trial amid calls from the prosecution to require her presence.
“If it is truly necessary, then that is something we would advise our client, the vice president, about. Ultimately, however, the decision will be hers,” he said.
The defense will continue next week its cross-examination of the prosecution’s witnesses, including Lotoc, House Office of Sergeant at Arms Executive Director Belinda Bello, and OVP Chief of Staff Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez.
On Saturday, Senator-Judge Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said it is not the role of the spokesman of the impeachment court, Reginald Tongol, to publicly call out or admonish senator-judges over their conduct during the trial.
In a radio interview, Lacson said concerns over possible violations of the impeachment court’s rules, including alleged sub judice remarks, should be tackled by the senator-judges during a caucus rather than through public statements.
Tongol “should not make it appear that he is cautioning or admonishing us,” Lacson said.
Lacson’s remarks came after Tongol reportedly commented on a Facebook post by Sen. Robinhood Padilla, reminding members of the impeachment court to observe Rule 18 of the Senate Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials, which prohibits statements that may prejudice the proceedings.
“It was uncalled for,” Lacson said. “He is the spokesman of the Court, not its critic. It is not in his space to call the attention of senator-judges to adhere to Rule 18 of the Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials, even sounding like he was admonishing Senator Padilla for his Facebook comments.”
Lacson reminded the senator-judges of their duty to exercise restraint in their public statements to preserve the impartiality of the impeachment proceedings.
The Senate is sitting as an impeachment court to hear the case against Vice President Sara Duterte, with the senators serving as judges tasked with deciding the case based on the evidence presented during the trial.
Lacson said the senator-judges may hold another caucus next week to discuss pending procedural matters before the court.
Among the motions expected to be taken up is a proposal by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano to communicate with the Sandiganbayan to allow detained senators, including Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, to attend the impeachment trial.
