The Senate impeachment court on Monday ordered the prosecution to submit documents in support of National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag’s request to testify earlier than scheduled in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Presiding Officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero issued the directive after the prosecution asked the court at the start of the fourth day of trial to allow Matibag to testify on Tuesday.
“Your Honor, the prosecution is in receipt of a letter dated July 10, 2026 from NBI Director Melvin A. Matibag, requesting that his testimony be scheduled or calendared at the earliest setting considering that the National Bureau of Investigation, Your Honors, has been invited by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in coordination with the Royal Thai Police, for a regional summit on scam center compounds and transnational organized crimes,” prosecution panel member Rep. Lorenz Defensor said.
Defensor asked that Matibag be allowed to take the witness stand after the prosecution and defense complete their examination of lawyer Jeremy Lotoc, the NBI regional director for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and former head of the bureau’s Cybercrime Division.
Also scheduled to testify this week are Duterte’s chief of staff Zuleika Lopez and Capt. Belinda Bello of the House Legislative Security Bureau.
The witnesses are expected to testify on Article IV of the impeachment complaint, which involves Duterte’s alleged grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
“After we have dispensed with the testimony of Director Matibag, we can proceed with the schedule of witnesses as provided in the list of the senator-judges last week, Your Honor,” Defensor said.
Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano said he would not oppose the prosecution’s motion “if no one objects,” but questioned Matibag’s request to testify ahead of the other scheduled witnesses so he could attend the regional summit.
Cayetano said he also wanted to personally visit disaster-stricken areas in the country to provide assistance but could not do so because of his duty to attend the impeachment proceedings.
“I find it in bad taste, I think, that a bureau head will dictate to us that he’s not available next week … So, I’d like to put it on record and ask my colleagues if that’s acceptable to us,” he added.
Escudero deferred the court’s ruling and directed the prosecution to submit Matibag’s letter and other relevant documents showing that he is scheduled to attend the summit next week.
“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,” Escudero said.