VP Sara Duterte Impeachment Trial: Prosecution Claims Defense Failed to Debunk 'Kill Threat' Video Testimony

MANILA, Philippines — The House prosecution in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte asserted on Wednesday that the defense failed to debunk the testimony of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Senior Agent Mark Calilung concerning a video that allegedly contains a "kill threat" made by the Vice President. According to a statement from the prosecution, lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan saw no need for further questioning after the defense concluded its cross-examination, thus waiving a redirect examination of the witness. "Yes, Your Honor, I said for the utter failure of the respondent to debunk the material points testified to by the witness yesterday," Ligutan informed the court, responding to the defense's objection to his earlier manifestation explaining the prosecution's decision to dispense with the redirect examination. Lawyer Carlo Joaquin Narvasa, counsel for the vice president, objected to Ligutan's statement and moved to have it stricken from the record. However, Sen. Francis Escudero, the presiding officer, deferred a ruling, stating the matter would be verified against the official journal first. Calilung was then excused from the witness stand, concluding his two-day testimony. He was the first prosecution witness to present and identify digital evidence supporting the impeachment article that accuses Duterte of making grave threats against President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and then-Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez. The senior agent from the NBI Cybercrime Division testified that he was part of the team assigned to investigate the video of Duterte's online briefing on November 23, 2024. He identified the full video recording of the briefing, in which Duterte stated that, in case she should be killed, she had asked someone to kill the president, the first lady, and Romualdez. He also identified the official transcript of the media briefing and screenshots extracted from the recording, which were offered as documentary evidence. Official statements from various government agencies, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, the National Security Council, the Presidential Communications Office, and the Office of the Executive Secretary, along with screenshots of their websites and social media accounts, were also presented by Calilung. These documents illustrated the government's response to Duterte's remarks. Calilung also elaborated on the digital forensic procedures employed by the NBI Cybercrime Division, detailing how the electronic evidence was identified, collected, preserved, and verified before being presented to the impeachment court. Before being excused, he also answered clarificatory questions from several senator-judges regarding his qualifications as an expert witness, the digital evidence he presented, and the methods used by the NBI for identifying, preserving, and verifying electronic evidence during its investigation. /atm