Prosecution won't seek Sara Duterte as hostile witness anymore

The House prosecution panel said Monday it will no longer seek to field Vice President Sara Duterte as a hostile witness in her impeachment trial.

Private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan said that given that the previous hostile witness from the Office of the Vice President merely said they do not know or were unaware of the allegations, it is likely that the Vice President will do the same.

“From everything we have heard from the defense, she is just going to say, hindi ko alam. That is all she is going to say on the witness stand. She is not going to enlighten the senator-judges, nor the public for her accountability of public funds, unexplained wealth, and grave threats to the President, First Lady, and former Speaker,” Kapunan said.

(She will just say she doesn't know)

“It will be good for the prosecution [if she takes the witness stand]. Makikita natin iyong init ng ulo niya, ang pagkalutang niya (We can see her hotheadedness), but it will be an absolute waste of the prosecution’s time when the testimony is predictable,” she added.

Kapunan and her fellow private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa, Jr. also noted that calling Duterte as a witness remains an option for the defense, and the prosecution can take a crack at cross-examining her just the same.

“The defense would have a better control of her on what she would say and how to behave,” she said.

"If you want to present the Vice President, please, do so. I am dying to cross examine her. I volunteer [to do it]," Kapunan added. —AOL, GMA News