Impeachment court rejects VP defense team’s move to exclude first witness in trial

The Senate impeachment court rejected the move of Vice President Sara Duterte’s legal team to exclude the first witness presented by the House prosecution panel in the impeachment trial.

This, after the prosecution team presented its first witness on the second day of the vice president’s trial—National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Senior Agent John Mark Calilung.

Carlo Narvasa, one of the legal counsel of the vice president, raised a motion to exclude the NBI agent from the proceeding, arguing that he was not listed as witness in the Saballa and Cabrera impeachment complaint.

The lawyer also said Calilung was not included in the Articles of Impeachment transmitted to the impeachment court.

But Amando Virgil Ligutan, counsel for the House prosecution, disputed the motion, saying it is not a proper objection.Ligutan argued that the impeachment trial is already separate from the Saballa and Cabrera case because “it has already lived its natural life.”

Moreover, the prosecution counsel said Calilung is already listed in the pre-trial order as one of the witnesses of the House prosecution panel.

Impeachment Court Presiding Officer and Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, then ruled in favor of the prosecution and denied Narvasa’s motion.

Escudero cited the Supreme Court ruling in Enrile v. Sandiganbayan which stated that prosecutors may add or rely on evidence not stated in the complaint or article since only a summary is required to be declared in the Articles of Impeachment.

“The court, in general, will not shackle the prosecution by limiting it to the evidence mentioned in the information and/or the articles, especially if it’s ben mentioned in the pre-trial brief, not only order but brief, of the counsel for prosecutors,” Escudero said. — Hannah L. Torregoza