Nelson Morales

Senate impeach court bars prosecution, defense from remarks on withdrawing witnesses

Article (news)

Dennis Gasgonia

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — The Senate impeachment court for the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday ruled it will no longer allow counsel to explain their decision to withdraw witnesses they listed during the pre-trial conference.Sen. Francis &quot;Chiz&quot; Escudero, presiding officer of the Senate impeachment court, made the ruling after lead defense counsel Shiela Sison flagged Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro, who told the court prosecutors would no longer present six witnesses they had lined up.Luistro, head of the House prosecution team, said previous testimony had already established that videos of Duterte shown to the court were authentic.Sison also called attention to a similar announcement on Tuesday by Atty. Lorna Kapunan, counsel for the prosecution, to withdraw Duterte&#x27;s chief of staff Zuleika Lopez and a House security official as witnesses.&quot;I&#x27;m not objecting to the manifestation, only that my concern is those manifestations are almost always accompanied with lengthy discourse containing provisions of law and facts that in reality only this impeachment court will determine,&quot; she said.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/14/prosecution-to-no-longer-present-lopez-bello-in-impeachment-trial-2023">Prosecution drops Lopez, Bello as witnesses on impeachment article on &#x27;grave threats&#x27;</a></div>Sison stressed that the lengthy explanation might affect the fairness and balance of the impeachment court.&quot;If the only intention is to withdraw witnesses... It would better support the purpose of aiding the speed of this case if that fact alone will be the only thing mentioned... that would be more fair to everyone,&quot; said Sison.Lopez was supposed to confirm the authenticity of the Nov. 23, 2024 video where Duterte uttered the alleged “grave threat” against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos and former House speaker Martin Romualdez.“Totally unnecessary because the defense themselves used the very same video, said exhibit in their defense when they showed Atty. Zuleika crying and allegedly complaining about the violation of her human rights,” Kapunan said on Tuesday.She added that House security official Belinda Bello was supposed to corroborate the existence of the House’s transfer order for Lopez, and that it was the subject of the November press conference.Escudero heeded the manifestation of Sison.&quot;The court will remind both parties to kindly limit any such manifestation on the withdrawal of their witnesses to kindly limit it to the withdrawal of such witnesses and it applies to both sides,&quot; he said.Luistro argued that they needed to make the explanation for the record and benefit of those who are closely watching the trial.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/8/duterte-defense-team-presents-clips-of-emotional-zuleika-lopez-from-november-2024-video-1603">Duterte defense team presents clips of emotional Zuleika Lopez from November 2024 video</a></div>&quot;[T]his is a constitutional process, a paramount of importance and therefore providing the reasons for the  withdrawal of witnesses need to be communicated as well to the viewing public,&quot; she said.For his part, Senator-Judge Alan Peter Cayetano said he sees problems in counsel making the explanation during the impeachment trial proper.Cayetano said those explanations should be reserved for the press conferences at the end of each trial day.&quot;The problem of explaining why you are withdrawing is actually you are feeding to the court something they did not testify to and then something the defense can not object to,&quot; he said. &quot;I agree that people have to know why, but I think we have been very lenient... So you can actually explain it in the presscon afterwards.&quot;

The Senate impeachment court for the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday ruled it will no longer allow counsel to explain their decision to withdraw witnesses they listed during the pre-trial conference.

The Senate impeachment court for the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday ruled it will no longer allow counsel to explain their decision to withdraw witnesses they listed during the pre-trial conference.