Impeachment Court Rejects Bid to Exclude NBI Agent's Testimony

Presiding Senator-Judge Chiz Escudero denied the motion of defense counsel Atty. Carlo Narvasa to exclude NBI Senior Agent John Mark Calilung as witness in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. Calilung was the first witness presented by the prosecution for the hearing on Article IV of the impeachment complaint (Assassination Plot, Grave Threats and Inciting to Sedition Against the President) that started on July 7, the second day of the trial. Narvaza said Calilung was not listed as a witness in the Saballa and Cabrera impeachment complaint and in the Articles of Impeachment received by the impeachment court. But Atty. Amando Virgil Ligutan, counsel to the prosecutors, countered that the impeachment trial is separate from the Saballa and Cabrera complaint, which has “already lived its natural life.” “Saballa et al. is done,” Ligutan said. Ligutan added that Calilung was also listed in the pre-trial order. In denying the motion, Escudero cited a Supreme Court ruling in Enrile vs Sandiganbayan which said that “prosecutors may add or rely on evidence during pre-trial even if the evidence is not stated in the complaint or Articles because only a summary is required to be stated in the Articles of Impeachment … and not a complete list of evidence and/or witnesses.” Calilung, who was described by the prosecution as a digital forensics expert, testified, among others, that he authenticated a video on Facebook where the Vice President said that should anything happen to her, she had contracted an assassin to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the President’s cousin. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno / MindaNews)