By Brian Campued and Dean Aubrey Caratiquet
After the introduction of the members representing the prosecution and defense panel on Monday, the second day of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial on Tuesday, July 7, focused on the prosecution’s presentation of key witnesses as the Senate Impeachment Court discussed Article IV of the Articles of Impeachment.
The witnesses testified on the alleged grave threat and assassination plot against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former Speaker Martin Romualdez that Duterte supposedly made in a livestream last November 23, 2024.
Here are the highlights of today’s trial:
- House Private Prosecutor Atty. Lorna Kapunan raised a manifestation on the request of the prosecution panel for Vice President Sara Duterte to personally face the Impeachment Court amid her continued absence at her trial.
- Presiding Officer Francis Escudero reiterated that impeachment rules do not require Vice President Duterte to show up at the trial, as she is already represented by her counsel.
- Escudero said, “Should the prosecutors desire to call on respondent herself, court will act on that request once it is made or filed.”
- House Prosecutor Rep. Lorenz Defensor on introducing Article IV of the Articles of Impeachment: “Her (VP Duterte’s) words were neither accidental nor taken out of context. They are uttered publicly with the intention to be taken seriously. Such statements carry a gravity far from the exercise of one’s freedom of expression. They strike at the heart of the government.”
- National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Cybercrime Division agent John Mark Calilung was brought to the witness stand by House Private Prosecutor Atty. Amando Ligutan to shine light on Duterte’s alleged threats to the President, the First Lady, and the former House Speaker.
- Escudero denied the motion raised by Atty. Carlo Navasa of the defense team to exclude Calilung for not being previously attached to the Saballa complaint.
- According to Calilung, he and his team made a preservation request to Facebook’s parent company Meta to preserve a copy of Duterte’s online press conference dated Nov. 23, 2024 that was posted on the Facebook page of former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
- Prosecution and defense argued over whether to present the full video recording (2 hours, 26 minutes, and 10 seconds) or only the relevant portions (2 minutes, 18 seconds) before the Impeachment Court.
- After a brief recess, the court allowed the prosecution to play certain clips from the video, where Duterte said, “Yes, huwag kang mag-alala, Ma’am, sa security ko kasi may kinausap na ako na tao. Sinabi ko sa kaniya kapag pinatay ako, patayin mo si BBM, si Liza Araneta, at si Martin Romualdez. No joke, no joke. Nagbilin na ako, Ma’am. ‘Pag namatay ako, sabi ko huwag kang tumigil hanggang ‘di mo mapatay sila. And then he said yes.”
- According to Calilung, his team also conducted an open-source investigation to identify previous statements of the vice president that have similarities with the video dated Nov. 23, 2024.
- Calilung read a transcript of Duterte’s statements against Marcos Jr. in her Oct. 18, 2024 press conference, “Gusto kong tanggalin ang ulo niya. I just imagine myself cutting his head.
So doon narealize ko, toxic na diba? Ganyan ang imagination mo, sinasakal mo ang tao. This is over.
Hindi marunong maging Presidente ang nakaupo, kasalanan ko ba yon?
Hindi ko alam, pero isang beses sinabihan ko talaga si Senator Imee, sabi ko sa kanya, ‘Kung hindi kayo tumigil, huhukayin ko yang tatay niyo. Itatapon ko siya sa West Philippine Sea.’
Kung Presidente niyo siya, okay lang. Ako, hanggang Vice President lang ako. Hanggang number 2 lang ang bansang ito, wala itong number one para sa akin.”
- The prosecution also played videos of President Marcos Jr. and former Speaker Romualdez’s responses to VP Duterte’s remarks, as well as screenshots of statements made by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, and the National Security Council.
- Senator-Judge Risa Hontiveros pointed out that Duterte’s remarks are not concrete proof that she contracted an assassin, asking prosecution: “Why are these acts impeachable?”
- Atty. Ligutan said, “There could be statements, utterances of a person that may not be directly similar to what he or she did, but it could establish what we call a specific intent, knowledge, identity, system, and the like.
These statements show talagang may plano na, may sistema na, may knowledge ang vice president sa kung ano ang gusto niyang gawin sa pangulo. Gusto niya pugutan ng ulo, gusto niya patayin.”
- Senator-Judge Pia Cayetano moved to strike Ligutan’s statement off the record, saying, “It is not proper for those statements to be made.”
- Hontiveros clarified that her question was pertaining to why the evidence was material to the proceedings: “My intention was not to provoke a closing statement.”
- Calilung said that the NBI summoned members of the media who attended the virtual press briefing of Duterte in November 2024, who attested to hearing the Vice President utter her alleged death threats.
- According to Calilung, the NBI also identified another video dated July 11, 2024 where Duterte said she would attend Marcos Jr.’s 3rd State of the Nation Address (SONA) and described herself as a “designated survivor,” as well as media interview dated Nov. 26, 2024, where she cited the kill threat she made three days prior.
The Senate, sitting as an Impeachment Court, adjourned past 6:00 p.m. and will resume the trial on Wednesday, July 8, 2:00 p.m.
-av
