The House prosecution panel has decided not to present Office of the Vice President (OVP) Chief of Staff Atty. Zuleika Lopez and House Legislative Security Bureau Executive Director Capt. Belinda Bello as witnesses in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Before the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday, House private prosecutor Atty. Lorna Kapunan said the testimonies of Lopez and Bello had become “totally unnecessary, redundant and a surplusage” because the matters they were expected to establish had already been proven during the proceedings.

Kapunan explained that the prosecution initially sought Lopez’s testimony for three purposes related to Duterte’s 23 November 2024 online press conference, during which the Vice President allegedly made threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

According to Kapunan, Lopez was expected to confirm that she was present at the House detention facility when Duterte made the remarks, that members of the media were present during the online press conference, and that the recordings presented as evidence were authentic.

However, she said these points had already been established through the prosecution’s direct examination, the defense’s cross-examination, and the manifestations made by both parties.

Kapunan added that Bello would have been presented for a similar purpose — to confirm that she received the transfer order directing Lopez’s transfer from the House detention facility to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City.

With the withdrawal of the two witnesses, Kapunan said the prosecution was effectively shortening the number of trial dates allotted under the Senate’s pre-trial order.

She emphasized that the decision was based solely on the fact that the intended purposes of the witnesses’ testimonies had already been fulfilled. Kapunan also thanked the senator-judges, saying their clarificatory questions helped establish key facts during the proceedings.

“We have decided from the evidence presented and from everything in consideration that we will not present these two witnesses,” she said.