SENATOR-JUDGE ALAN PETER CAYETANO:
(0:00:00) … objects I will not object to having Director Matibag yesterday but maybe as a caution to government officials my good friend congressman defensor I read over the weekend that director Matibag is writing because he is to be in a convention meeting the FBI next week so actually we’re going to be here 30 weeks.
(0:00:29) We have put aside many, many important things. We have put aside many foreign trips, many local trips, whether it’s to help dun sa tinamaan ng lindol sa Mindanao or tinatamaan ng baha ngayon because we have to be here 2 o’clock until matapos tayo every Monday to Wednesday, then after the SONA, [then] every Tuesday to Wednesday. I find it in bad taste that a bureau head will dictate to us that he’s not available next week.
(0:01:01) I was Secretary of Foreign Affairs. That’s why you have Undersecretaries. That’s why you have Deputy Directors. So I admire the patience of the prosecution. But even the prosecution, they have a way of timing and laying down the witnesses. So, I don’t want later on to say na dapat natanong ko muna ito sa unang witness, kaya lang si Director Matibag inuna dahil ganito, ganyan. So I’d like to put that on record and ask my colleagues if that’s acceptable to us.
(0:01:45) I mean… well, at least those who are not in jail or the 21 of us are here. The whole government, nakatutok, we put aside so many important things. And then one witness who is in the government, who is a bureau head, will tell us, sorry, but because he has to be with the FBI, siya na yung mauna tomorrow? That might be a bad precedent, Mr. Presiding Officer.
PROSECUTOR DEFENSOR:
(0:02:18) May I be allowed to give a reply?
PRESIDING SENATOR-JUDGE ESCUDERO:
(0:02:20) Please respond to the point of Senator-Judge Alan Cayetano.
PROSECUTOR DEFENSOR:
(0:02:24) With due respect to the Honorable Senator-Judge Alan Peter Cayetano, we will always respect the decision of the Honorable Court. However, we will only be advancing his testimony one day.
(0:02:37) Based on the subpoena that we have requested the Honorable Court, he is scheduled to testify until Wednesday, and that we will not disrupt the scheduled list of witnesses. We will simply advance it one day or another.
PRESIDING SENATOR-JUDGE ESCUDERO:
(0:02:49) With due respect, Congressman Representative Defensor, I asked that question poignantly last week.
(0:03:00) If Matibag will be one of your witnesses for this week and you said no. In fact, you corrected Attorney Ligutan when he mentioned Director Matibag as one of your witnesses and instead gave me a list of Lotoc, Zuleika Lopez, and Captain Bello. Matibag was not included. In fact, I don’t think we issued a subpoena for Director Matibag for this week, given your manifestation after you took over, given that you have, as you said, control and supervision over the Counsel for the Prosecutors. So he’s not in your list this week. He’s not being advanced for a day, sir.
PROSECUTOR DEFENSOR:
(0:03:43) May I respond, Your Honours?
PRESIDING SENATOR-JUDGE ESCUDERO:
(0:03:44) Please do so.
PROSECUTOR DEFENSOR:
(0:03:45) Your Honors, that’s correct. I gave a list of witnesses scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. However, Your Honor, to add, I also added that since NBI Director Matibag has been requested for a Subpoena to testify within a week.
(0:03:59) I also added in my statement that we will inform the Honorable Court which day we can present the Honorable Matibag, and I was expecting him to be presented on Wednesday after the testimony of Captain Belinda Bello, Your Honors.
PRESIDING SENATOR-JUDGE ESCUDERO:
(0:04:16) I confirm that, but the situation is, given the one witness per day rule that we supposedly have under the rules of court, no subpoena has yet been issued to Director Matibag to appear this week. Can the clerk of court kindly confirm that for us on the record?
CLERK OF COURT BANTUG:
(0:04:37) No, subpoena has been issued for NBI Director Matibag.
PROSECUTOR DEFENSOR:
(0:04:39) May I respond, Your Honor?
PRESIDING SENATOR-JUDGE ESCUDERO:
(0:04:41) Senator-Judge Alan Cayetano is recognized.
SENATOR-JUDGE ALAN PETER CAYETANO:
(0:04:45) Actually, my statement and my question to the court is not really addressed to the prosecution. You will have to do the best you can to represent what you’re fighting for. So I commend you for adjusting. But my recollection is because I’m also waiting for his testimony. And my recollection last week is that we will not see him this week. And I think 11 days. 11 days…
PROSECUTOR DEFENSOR:
(0:05:16) That’s correct.
SENATOR-JUDGE ALAN PETER CAYETANO:
(0:05:17) … sa article na ito. So we’re on day 4. So kung hindi siya pwede this week then that’s day 7, 8, 9. Again, I don’t want to dictate sa prosecution or ano, but to suddenly say na tomorrow na siya, when I’m preparing for our oral argument tomorrow and the other witnesses, it’s a little bit, it’s a small inconvenience for today. But I hope it doesn’t become a rule, especially for a bureau head. I mean, if no one else objects, but if someone objects, I don’t think it’s really a good rule. You know, rules are important. I’ll have to keep, you say, technicalities. No, rules are important. So even yung notice, we agreed on, presiding officer, three-day ba? Five-day notice?
PRESIDING SENATOR-JUDGE ESCUDERO:
(0:06:03) Five days for witnesses not mentioned in the pretrial order.
SENATOR-JUDGE ALAN PETER CAYETANO:
(0:06:07) And then three days kapag ka…
PRESIDING SENATOR-JUDGE ESCUDERO:
(0:06:09) Three days given the fact that we will be announcing the witnesses for the following week on the last day.
SENATOR-JUDGE ALAN PETER CAYETANO:
(0:06:14) Anyway, I said my piece, but I hope we will not be able to move faster if we have to accommodate the witnesses, especially if they’re in government.
PROSECUTOR DEFENSOR:
(0:06:24) May I add something, Your Honour?
PRESIDING SENATOR-JUDGE ESCUDERO:
(0:06:27) Before the Honourable Defensor, the presiding officer would like to hear from the counsel for the respondents. Attorney Vinluan, what say you?
DEFENSE VINLUAN:
(0:06:33) Yes, Your Honour. We would have to oppose on the basis of the following. Number one, it will be in violation, Your Honour, of the impeachment court’s directive that was given last week in so far as the identities of the witnesses as well as the order of the presentation.
(0:06:50) Number two, Your Honor, it will be, again, as mentioned by Senator-Judge Cayetano, a violation of the five-day notice rule. Since while he was subpoenaed the week before Your Honor, we are learning that he will be presented this week, so the five-day notice will not be observed.
(0:07:08) Number three, the prosecution cannot compel also the defense and this impeachment court to present witnesses according to their schedule, considering also that these witnesses have already been identified and determined. Of course, it will be a violation of the basic tenets of fair play. And to join again the manifestation of Senator-Judge Cayetano, it will set a bad precedent.
(0:07:40) In so far, surprise witnesses will be allowed at any point of the proceedings. Number five would be, it will also violate our right to cross-examine intelligently. We have done our best to prepare for their witnesses. However, these last minute changes really affect the preparation involved, Your Honor.
(0:07:59) And in so far as laying down the case that we want to establish. And finally, if there are violations of these proceeding rights, there will be a violation of procedural due process, which of course can give way to another ground to further delay the proceedings. Moreover, Your Honor, we…
(0:08:19) If the prosecution would also allow, can we also get a copy, Your Honor, of that invitation and maybe inquire of the prosecution if the particular travel authority has already been made? Because, Your Honor, we received information as well that the FBI had already conducted a summit, a regional summit of some sort, but it was conducted in June of, in other words, last month, Your Honor, also in Bangkok, Thailand.
(0:08:55) So we would have to, again, manifest and we would have to study, Your Honor, the invitation and counter-check and do the proper verification as well so that if it is indeed viable, then we would understand, Your Honor, why it has to be attended to by Director Matibag.
PRESIDING SENATOR-JUDGE ESCUDERO:
(0:09:13) Senate President Gatchalian is recognized. You may proceed, sir.
SENATOR-JUDGE GATCHALIAN:
(0:09:18) Thank you, Mr. Presiding Officer.
(0:09:22) Sinusuportahan ko po yung statement ni Senator-Judge Alan Cayetano dahil hindi lang naman po yung counsel ng defense at prosecution ang naghahanda, pati po mga Senator-Judges naghahanda rin. At sa totoo lang ho, nitong weekend, marami rin sa ating mga Senator-Judges ay pinagaaralan kung ano yung kanilang mga itatanong sa mga testigong ihaharap po ngayong Linggo. Marami po ay pinag-aaralan po yung mga ebidensyang inupload na ho para po sa ating mga Senator-Judges. At hindi po ito konting ebidensya, libo-libong mga papel at libo-libong mga ebidensya.
(0:10:01) Kaya kung bigla pong may isisingit na testigo, hindi ho rin makakahanda po yung ating mga Senator-Judges sa kanilang pagtatanong at hindi rin ho nilang mababasa yung mga dokumento at ebidensya na nakakabit ho doon sa testigong ihaharap.
(0:10:21) Kaya napakahirap naman po na naghahanda tayo pero biglang may mga ganitong supresa na hindi po natin paghahandaan at hindi naman po yan magiging maayos at patas para po sa ating mga Senator-Judges. Maraming salamat po.
PRESIDING SENATOR-JUDGE ESCUDERO:
(0:10:34) For the record, Chair would like to confirm the statement of the Honorable Defensor. I will quote, presiding officer, quote, so Director Matibag is not yet going to be presented next week. Representative Defensor, not yet, Your Honor. We will manifest on Monday. If we can consider him for the Wednesday session, depending on how the trial goes and how long the testimonies will take for both parties.
(0:11:05) With the permission of Senators, Senator-Judge Cayetano and the Senate President, may we defer our ruling on this matter and ask the Counsel for the Prosecution to submit to us the letter given to you by Director Matibag for us to be able to look at it, copy-furnished, of course, the Counsel for the Respondent, so that we can adequately go over it and hopefully come up with a ruling before the day is over. Would that be possible?
PROSECUTOR DEFENSOR:
(0:11:33) Yes, sir. We will submit the letter.
PRESIDING SENATOR-JUDGE ESCUDERO:
(0:11:35) Thank you, Your Honor. So we shall do it that way. Kindly furnish a copy to the Counsel for the Respondents as well for their review.
PROSECUTOR DEFENSOR:
(0:11:43) Yes, Your Honor.
PRESIDING SENATOR-JUDGE ESCUDERO:
(0:11:44) Counsel for Respondent, Attorney Vinluan… inaudible.
DEFENSE VINLUAN:
(0:11:44) Your Honor, if the Travel Authority is also available, if we can ask for a copy. Travel Authority, if it’s already issued.
PRESIDING SENATOR-JUDGE ESCUDERO:
(0:11:54) Yes, of course. Kindly furnish us that as well.
PROSECUTOR DEFENSOR:
(0:12:00) Your Honors, we will submit in good faith whatever the prosecution has received from Director Matibag, Your Honor. As well as…
PRESIDING SENATOR-JUDGE ESCUDERO:
(0:12:06) Kindly communicate with him, if possible, if he already has a travel authority for the same, so that we could evaluate it based on what you have. We cannot evaluate it based on what you don’t have, so we will presume if you don’t have it, it’s not yet there.
DEFENSE VINLUAN:
(0:12:20) Your Honor, one last addition. Considering that there’s a if and when they provide the travel authority, I understand, Your Honor, that one of the requirements is also the official invitation from the foreign body. So if they can also provide that, Your Honor, so that we can do a full review of this matter.
PRESIDING SENATOR-JUDGE ESCUDERO:
(0:12:38) It’s not really for the full review of the counsel for the prosecution, but rather for this court’s evaluation, whether or not to allow the motion of the panel of prosecutors. But everything that will be submitted to us, you will be furnished with a copy. So you can argue your way through this motion before we decide on it. So ordered.
