MANILA, Philippines — Lawyer Lorna Kapunan has announced that the House of Representatives’ prosecution team 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.
During the trial on Tuesday, Kapunan — private counsel for the prosecution team — said that they think Lopez and Capt. Belinda Bello’s testimonies on the accusations that Vice President Sara Duterte made grave threats will be redundant to the examinations of two National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Senior Agent John Mark Calilung and Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc.
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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.
“In the last four trial days, we’ve had several hours of legal calisthenics […] a total of approximately eight hours a day and two witnesses. Today we are supposed to hear a subpoenaed witness and another witness subpoenaed or called to appear here, Capt. Belinda Bello,” Kapunan said.
