THE House prosecution will call Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s former chief of staff, Atty. Zuleika Lopez, to the witness stand next week as it continues presenting evidence before the Senate impeachment court.
The schedule was confirmed Wednesday after House prosecutor Iloilo 3rd District Rep. Lorenz Defensor clarified the lineup of witnesses for the next phase of the trial.
Lopez will testify after Atty. Jeremy Lotoc, regional director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, when the trial resumes on Monday, July 13.
“For Monday, Your Honors, we will be presenting Atty. Jeremy Lotoc. For Wednesday, we will be presenting Atty. Zuleika Lopez. And for Wednesday, our third witness, we will be presenting Capt. Belinda Bello,” Defensor told the court.
Defensor also said NBI Director Melvin Matibag would no longer be part of next week’s lineup.
“Not yet, Your Honor. We will manifest on Monday if we can consider him for the Wednesday session depending on how the trial goes or how long the testimonies will take for both parties,” he told Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, presiding officer of the impeachment court.
Following the prosecution’s manifestation, Escudero ordered the issuance of subpoena to the witnesses for the July 13 to 15 trial dates.
The prosecution has said it intends to use all 11 trial days allotted for presenting evidence under the fourth impeachment article, which accuses Duterte of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust over alleged grave threats against President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and then-Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez.
Next week’s hearings will follow the conclusion of the two-day testimony of NBI Senior Agent John Mark Calilung, who laid the evidentiary foundation for the prosecution’s case under Article IV.
Calilung identified the authenticated video and transcript of Duterte’s Nov. 23, 2024 livestream, screenshots extracted from the recording, and official statements issued by government agencies in response to her remarks.
He also explained the NBI’s digital forensic procedures for identifying, collecting, preserving and verifying electronic evidence.
Lotoc is expected to testify on the NBI’s finding that Duterte had allegedly claimed to have hired an assassin to kill the President, the First Lady and the former Speaker if she herself were killed.
Lopez will shed light on the events surrounding her detention by the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability and the circumstances that preceded Duterte’s Nov. 23, 2024 livestream, which forms part of the prosecution’s evidence under Article IV.
Also set to take the witness stand is Bello, executive director of the House of Representatives Legislative Security Bureau, who will discuss the implementation of the House committee’s order transferring Lopez to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong.
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