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The prosecution panel said it is confident the evidence laid before the impeachment court on the grave threats article is sufficient, telling reporters at the House of Representatives briefing on July 22 that doubt about the viral video has been eliminated.

"Wala ng katanungan kung totoo ba itong video," a panel member said — ["There is no longer any question whether this video is real"] — adding that the footage shows the vice president's alleged agreement to have the president killed. He said the prosecution respects the impeachment court's authority to decide but expressed strong confidence in the case presented under Article IV.

The panel member also said the admission captured in the video makes the central allegation plain: "Napakaliwanag na din kung bakit ang kadahilanan" ["It is already very clear why and for what reason"].

The prosecution panel called on Filipinos to follow the impeachment proceedings directly, warning that online videos were clipping footage and misrepresenting what happened in court, panel members said at the House of Representatives press conference on July 22.

"May mga videos, taking some portions of the trial and taking it out of context kaya naliligaw ang mga tao," a panel member said ["There are videos taking some portions of the trial and taking them out of context, which is misleading people"].

"Walang direktong connection dun sa naging paksa ng kanyang testimonia," the panel said of the defense's questions to the NBI witness ["There was no direct connection to the subject of her testimony"].

House prosecutor Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez said he visibly bristled when the defense cross-examined the NBI director by targeting her character rather than her testimony, speaking at a House of Representatives press conference on July 22.

"Medyo tumas ng kongtiyong kilay ko na parang may antics sila," Gutierrez said ["My eyebrow went up a little — it felt like they had antics"]. He said the line of attack missed: "Tinitimag siya pero kulang" ["They tried to shake her but it wasn't enough"].

Gutierrez stressed the cross-examination produced no direct connection to the substance of the NBI director's testimony. The director, he noted, is a congresswoman and chair of the Committee on Women — "a strong independent public servant," he said.

The prosecution's overall approach to the impeachment trial remains the same despite shifts in how the defense is conducting its cross-examinations, House prosecutor Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez said.

"The general strategy of the prosecution remains the same — ilalabas lahat ng evidencia, present it fairly to the court," Gutierrez told the House of Representatives press briefing on July 22 ["lay out all the evidence, present it fairly to the court"].

He acknowledged that defense adjustments — including visual aids and revised cross-examination techniques — would require the prosecution to make corresponding tweaks, but called those responses "minor."

House prosecutor Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez told a press conference that the defense cross-examination of the NBI director focused on character rather than the substance of the evidence presented.

"Tinitimag siya pero kulang. Parang ganin yung dating," Gutierrez said ["They were going after her but it fell short. That was the impression"], adding that he raised an eyebrow at what he called antics directed at the witness.

Speaking at the House of Representatives press briefing on July 22, Gutierrez described the defense's use of visual aids and PowerPoint presentations during the cross as "patuit thumbs lang" — a marginal upgrade in delivery, but with no change in the underlying line of questioning, he said.

A member of the prosecution briefing panel told the House of Representatives press conference on July 22 that the NBI director's appearance before the impeachment court was consequential, saying the court was able to "piece together the evidence" through his testimony.

"Consider that this was a very substantial witness," a panelist said, adding that the first two prosecution witnesses focused specifically on the threat itself — not the broader pattern of alleged violence.

The panel — comprising Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega, House prosecutor Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez and private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa Jr. — is fielding questions from reporters at the House of Representatives briefing.

The prosecution's first two witnesses were called specifically to establish the reality of the alleged death threat, private prosecutor and legal spokesperson Benjamin Tolosa Jr. said at the House of Representatives briefing on July 22.

"Their testimonial is really more on the threat itself," Tolosa said, distinguishing the early witnesses from those expected to address the wider pattern of alleged violence the NBI outlined in its four-point framework.

The NBI previously told the impeachment court there was a "100% probability" the Vice President contacted someone to carry out the threat.

Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega and Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez opened the prosecution briefing Thursday morning by telling reporters the viral video of Vice President Sara Duterte making alleged death threats has been doubly verified — first by an NBI witness, then by the defence.

"We saw the video, the viral video. This was authenticated by the first witness. And of course it also helped that the defense counsels admitted," Gutierrez said, speaking at the House of Representatives press conference on July 22, 2026.

The concession by defence counsel, if it holds, removes a key line of attack the Duterte camp could have used to challenge the prosecution's central exhibit.

The House prosecution panel's morning press briefing at the 20th Congress has its full lineup in place, speaking on House of Representatives. Deputy Speaker Francisco Paulo Ortega V, Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez of One Rider Partylist, and private prosecutor and prosecution spokesperson Benjamin Tolosa Jr. are the three panelists taking questions.

A panelist opened by saying it was already clear from yesterday what the NBI presented, signalling the briefing will focus on the previous day's testimony. The session is under way.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Manila on Tuesday to condemn what Washington called "dangerous" Chinese maneuvers in the South China Sea, as Southeast Asian nations gathered for an Asean foreign ministers' meeting. The timing underscored rising tensions: on Monday, Philippine and Chinese sailors clashed at Second Thomas Shoal, with Manila accusing China Coast Guard personnel of assaulting Filipino sailors near a beached Philippine garrison vessel, while Beijing said the Philippines provoked the encounter.

Rubio is scheduled to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday. In an op-ed published Tuesday, Rubio warned that if the South China Sea "were to fall under the control of a power willing to use trade as a geopolitical weapon, both the United States and the Asean states would face serious new threats to their sovereignty, security and economic future" — an explicit reference to China's claims over almost the entire waterway.

Beijing's ambassador to Manila said Tuesday evening he believed a code of conduct between Asean and China remained achievable by year's end, though the latest clash cast fresh doubt on that prospect, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports.

Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial resumed Wednesday with National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag returning to the witness stand for continued cross-examination on Article IV of the complaint, which alleges she made grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former Speaker Martin Romualdez, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports.

On Tuesday, the trial's eighth day ended with the defense seeking more time to question Matibag, delaying witnesses for Article I, which covers Duterte's alleged misuse of confidential funds. The court is expected to issue fresh subpoenas for three witnesses whose appearances were deferred.

Matibag testified that the NBI views Duterte's controversial "kill" remarks as a "serious, active and continuing" threat and pointed to similarities between statements made by the Vice President and Davao City Mayor Sebastian "Baste"

Residents in Metro Manila are already feeling the effects at night — water pressure drops as Angat Dam falls to what an official called a "very critical" level, an MWSS engineer said on Balitapatan-DZMM Wednesday.

Angat Dam supplies roughly 90% of Metro Manila's water, the Department Manager for Water and Sewage Management of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, Engineer Patrick Dizon, told Balitapatan-DZMM via Zoom. He described the situation as "nakakaalarma" — alarming.

Dizon did not give a specific water level figure during the portion aired, but said developments in recent days had been disturbing.

The impeachment question is not just whether a threat was made but whether it reveals someone fit to remain in office — and potentially ascend further, UP Law's Michael Tiu Jr. said on Balitapatan-DZMM.

"Kung ganun yung sal o response mo to at sum... ion ba dapat ang ginagawa mo as a response? Kasi maraming kanang options, especially in that position. But if your first option is to make a threat like that, then... to remain in office," Tiu said, noting that the VP is also seeking higher office. ["If that is your response... is that what you should be doing? Because you have many options, especially in that position. But if your first option is to make a threat like that, then... to remain in office."]

He added that the fact the alleged threat was directed at the president sharpens the fitness question further: "Ang vice president is one breath away from the president," he said. ["The vice president is one breath away from the president."]

The threat allegedly made by Vice President Sara Duterte carries more legal weight than a comparable threat from an ordinary individual precisely because of the office she holds, UP College of Law assistant professor Michael Tiu Jr. told Balitapatan-DZMM on Wednesday.

"Ang credibility ng threat mas tumataas kasi may resources, may kapangyarihan, may command ang vice president," Tiu said. ["The credibility of the threat increases because the vice president has resources, power, command."]

Tiu was responding to a question about senator-judge Raffy Tulfo's comparison of how the NBI handled the VP's alleged threat versus the prosecution of a teacher who made a similar threat — a line of questioning the professor said the NBI director answered correctly by noting that threat credibility scales with the capacity of the person making it.

The decision to have lead prosecutor Gerville "Jinky" Luistro personally conduct the examination of the NBI director gave the UP law professor his own "moment of discomfort," he told Balitapatan-DZMM.

"Meron din ako nga nung classing discomfort," he said ["I also had that moment of discomfort"], though he added the arrangement made sense organizationally — the lead prosecutor presenting the agency head she outranks the witness in the hierarchy of the investigation.

The professor said the key question was what senator-judge Cayetano meant by "job" — whether it referred to the manner of examination or to the prosecution's broader obligation to present its evidence properly.

Senator-judge Pia Cayetano publicly rebuked lead House prosecutor Gerville "Jinky" Luistro during Day 8 of the impeachment trial, according to a UP law professor speaking on Balitapatan-DZMM.

"Parang nasermonan pa si Congresswoman Jinky Luistro na — Do your job! Parang ganon," the professor said ["It was as if Congresswoman Jinky Luistro was lectured — Do your job! Something like that"], adding he was uncertain whether the senator-judge was addressing only Luistro or the prosecution panel as a whole.

The professor said he did not know whether Cayetano's remark was directed solely at the lead prosecutor or was a broader rebuke of the prosecution's conduct in court.

The presiding officer of the impeachment court, Francis Escudero, raised a dispute over a key document submitted by the prosecution — an affidavit sourced from International Criminal Court records that was not notarized under Philippine rules, a UP law professor told Balitapatan-DZMM on Tuesday.

Speaking on Balitapatan-DZMM, Assistant Professor Atty. Michael Tiu Jr. of the UP College of Law said the prosecution told the court it obtained the document from ICC files, but Escudero made clear the impeachment court is not the ICC and Philippine notarization standards apply.

"May ibang senator-judges who might disregard it because ang value na piniplase natin sa notarization ay mataas," Tiu said ["There may be senator-judges who will disregard it because the value we place on notarization is high"]. He noted that notarization's core purpose is to make a document public, but said the challenge could still lead some judges to give the affidavit less weight.

The prosecution may not have needed a third witness to establish the alleged threat on President Marcos's life, Atty. Michael Tiu Jr., assistant professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law, said on Balitapatan-DZMM.

"The two first witnesses would have been enough to prove this particular point," Tiu said, referring to the article alleging Vice President Sara Duterte plotted against the president. He noted the public watching the trial was already aware a threat allegation existed before the NBI director took the stand.

Tiu stopped short of saying the third witness was unnecessary, but his assessment suggests the prosecution's case on that specific charge was already substantially built before Day 8.

The Day 8 NBI testimony at the Sara Duterte impeachment trial confirmed existing accounts but broke little new ground, an assistant professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law, Atty. Michael Tiu Jr., told Balitapatan-DZMM on Tuesday.

"Wala masyadong bago tayo na nakita except to confirm na kung ano yung nangyari," Tiu said ["There was not much new that we saw, except to confirm what had already happened"]. He added the NBI director's appearance did "add a layer of seriousness" to proceedings.

On the disclosure that the NBI has identified "persons of interest," Tiu said no names were given — citing the agency's ongoing investigation as the reason. "Person of interest lang ang sinabing mayroon sila," he said ["They only said there were persons of interest"].

A University of the Philippines College of Law assistant professor, Atty. Michael Tiu Jr., joined the program to assess what the impeachment court heard on Day 8, speaking on Balitapatan-DZMM Tuesday morning.

Tiu said the day's testimony amounted to what he described as confirmation of the investigation process, adding that at least some points appeared to have reached a conclusion through the evidence presented.

The interview was still underway as of this post.

Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez told Hot Copy - ANZ the government's existing 10-peso-per-litre fuel discount for public transport operators could be broadened to help manage inflation.

"Mas pwede pa natin palawigin yan," he said ["We can still expand that further"], describing the discount as a government intervention that could be stretched to cushion fare pressures.

Lopez cited inflation as one of the top concerns in recent surveys and said the DOTR was looking at how to extend the measure before any final decision on fare increases.

Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez has directed the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to open public consultations on pending fare hike petitions, he said speaking on Hot Copy - ANZ.

"I instructed LTFRB na rin to start the process," Lopez said ["I also instructed LTFRB to start the process"], adding that regional directors nationwide must be consulted because fare conditions vary across provinces, not just Metro Manila.

Lopez said the consultations would also cover different transport modes, meaning potential increases could extend beyond jeepneys to other forms of public transit.

The host on Hot Copy - ANZ put to Lopez that one of the biggest challenges facing the transportation sector this year has been a series of strikes driven by rising fuel prices and the ongoing jeepney privatisation programme, and asked how the administration would respond if the president did not address those issues in his State of the Nation Address.

Certain groups are attempting to mount another transportation strike ahead of the address, the host said. Lopez began to respond, saying the complication of the fare hike issue was tied to the question of subsidies — though his answer was cut off in the broadcast.

Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez has identified a consortium — which he named as Etilipad and Phil Invest, with a third member he did not specify — as front-runners already in negotiations for the privatisation of at least two regional airports, he said on Hot Copy - ANZ.

Lopez did not disclose which airports are covered by the current talks, though he mentioned two names that were partially audible in the broadcast. He said the negotiations must be concluded before the deals are submitted to the PPP office and the Investment Coordination Committee for approval.

"On-going po ang contract negotiations on that," Lopez said ["The contract negotiations on that are ongoing"], adding that the government intends to retain ownership of the airports under any arrangement.

Any rehabilitation or retrofitting of the Guadalupe Bridge cannot begin until an alternate route is in place, Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez said on Hot Copy - ANZ, explaining why the project has not yet started.

"Dapat po may room na kaabang na po na ibang" — there must already be an alternative waiting, Lopez said [meaning an alternate route must be ready before work can begin]. He said DPWH holds primary jurisdiction over the bridge, but that coordination with his department and the MMDA had led to a decision to prioritize the full EDSA rehabilitation first.

The host had raised the Guadalupe Bridge after citing the president's State of the Nation address, where bridge overhauls were listed as upcoming projects, noting that construction on the Makati span would trigger severe traffic congestion along EDSA.

Three new passway stations along EDSA are targeted to open before year-end, Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez told Hot Copy - ANZ, adding to a string of infrastructure milestones the department is racing to deliver in 2026.

Lopez named the stations as Pakumbario, Balintawak and a third location that was not fully audible in the broadcast. He did not give an exact opening date but grouped the openings with other projects — including the TR4 expressway and the Bukidnon greenfield terminal — as part of DOTR's year-end targets.

The announcement is the first time Lopez has publicly attached a timeline to the additional passway stations on the capital's busiest thoroughfare.

Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez said on Hot Copy - ANZ that a brand-new passenger terminal building for Bukidnon Airport — a greenfield facility — is targeted for completion by December 2026.

Lopez listed it among the Department of Transportation's major projects expected to be finished this year, alongside the TR4 expressway and three additional expressway stations he said would also be inaugurated within the year.

Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez told Hot Copy - ANZ that the new TR4 expressway will cut travel time between Santo Tomas, Batangas and Lucena from four hours to one hour once it opens, targeting an inauguration in November or December this year.

Lopez said the project is being developed in coordination with the Department of Public Works and Highways, and he hopes the president will formally open it before the year ends.

"Once namabuksan natin ang TR-4 natin, maging isang oras na lang po," Lopez said ["Once we open TR-4, it will only be one hour"].

Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez moved to reassure the public that privatising airport operations does not mean selling off state assets, speaking on Hot Copy - ANZ.

"We're not divesting our ownership," Lopez said, describing the PPP arrangements as a service and management handover rather than a transfer of title — with the government retaining what he called its "karampatang" [rightful] stake in the country's airports.

Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez said a new terminal, TR4, is on track to open before the end of 2025, telling Hot Copy - ANZ: "By the end of this year, we can start using the TR4 — may inaugurate po natin" ["we will have an inauguration"].

Lopez did not specify which airport the terminal serves, but the remark came during a broader discussion of airport development under the current administration's infrastructure push.