MANILA, Philippines — The House prosecution panel will no longer present Office of the Vice President Chief of Staff and Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez as a witness in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, saying her testimony would be redundant.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan said the prosecution also decided not to present Capt. Belinda Bello of the House Legislative Security Bureau.
Kapunan said the panel concluded that the testimonies of National Bureau of Investigation Senior Agent John Mark Calilung and Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc had already established the matters the prosecution intended to prove.
“After hearing the two competent and credible witnesses, we find it totally unnecessary, redundant and a surplusage to still present Atty. Zuleika Lopez as well as Capt. Belinda Bello,” Kapunan told the impeachment court.
The prosecution had initially planned to call Lopez as a hostile witness in connection with Article IV of the Articles of Impeachment, which accuses Duterte of betraying public trust through alleged grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Lopez’s detention at the House of Representatives in November 2024 formed part of the circumstances surrounding Duterte’s online press briefing, during which the vice president made statements about having allegedly hired an assassin to kill the three officials if she were killed.
Lopez had been cited in contempt by a House committee investigating the alleged misuse of confidential funds by the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education.
