MANILA, Philippines — The prosecution team of the House of Representatives said that it laid the foundation for its grave threat charge against Vice President Sara Duterte on the first week of her impeachment trial with evidence that supported the case.
They said that the presentation of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Senior Agent John Mark Calilung before the senator-judges accomplished the first objective of the prosecution’s strategy of presenting authenticated digital evidence.
Calilung was called to the witness stand to authenticate the video recording containing the threat by the vice president against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former speaker Martin Romualdez.
During a forum on Saturday in Quezon City, Mamamayang Liberal Partylist Rep. Leila de Lima said that the prosecution team has shifted from presenting the allegations to proving them.
“We saw first week as allegations turning into evidence. Every prosecution starts with allegations and must end with proof,” said de Lima, a member of the House prosecution team.
She added that the succeeding witnesses would reinforce the authenticated recordings, explain the significance of the evidence and present the findings of the NBI investigation.
Meanwhile, Akbayan Partylist Rep. Jose Manuel Diokno, another member of the prosecution, said that their approach was like building a house, with the first week constructing the foundation before presenting the rest of the structure.
"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 added.
Duterte's defense team has indicated that they were satisfied with the cross examination of Calilung as they were able to show the extent of the investigation, the parts of the video that would provide context, and the nature of the affidavit of investigation.
Defense counsel Mark Vinluan maintained in his closing statement after Calilung's cross examination that the prosecution has "no other competent evidence" to prove that their client contracted an assassin to kill the first couple and Romualdez.
