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Metro Manila, Philippines – Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro secured ASEAN’s support for a planned humanitarian mission to Myanmar after leading back-to-back meetings on the political situation in the conflict-hit country in Thailand. Lazaro, who also serves as the ASEAN Chair’s special envoy on Myanmar, met with Myanmar Foreign Minister U Tin Maung Swe and later chaired an informal meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers with their Myanmar counterpart on July 12. The Department of Foreign Affairs said Lazaro and Tin Maung Swe held a candid and constructive discussion on advancing the implementation of ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus and ways the regional bloc could assist Myanmar in normalizing its relations with ASEAN. During the informal meeting, the Myanmar foreign minister briefed ASEAN counterparts on developments in the country. The briefing covered the government’s implementation of the Five-Point Consensus, its 100-day Peace Plan and efforts to combat transnational crime. ASEAN foreign ministers…

Metro Manila, Philippines –  House prosecution spokesperson Lorna Kapunan denied suggestions that prosecutors backed down by removing Office of the Vice President chief of staff Zuleika Lopez from their witness list. In a briefing on Tuesday, July 14, Kapunan said the decision was based on the strength of the evidence already presented before the Senate impeachment court. “I think a case sinks or swims with the evidence. There can be over-presentation of evidence,” Kapunan said. She said the prosecution originally planned to present Lopez to prove three points. These were that Lopez was present during the November 23, 2024 press conference of Vice President Sara Duterte, that Duterte made the statements in her presence and before the media, and that the prosecution’s video evidence was authentic. Kapunan said those matters had already been established during the trial. “After more than four days of direct examination, cross-examination, and the probing and…

Metro Manila, Philippines –  Veteran lawyer Lorna Kapunan  wished actress and former client Bea Alonzo well following confirmation of her marriage to businessman Vincent Co. “I wish you well, Bea,” Kapunan told reporters in a  candid discussion after the Senate impeachment trial. Kapunan has served as one of Alonzo’s lawyers in recent years. She was asked whether she drafted the couple’s reported prenuptial agreement. “People are asking, ‘Did I make the prenuptial agreement?’ Actually, I wish I did. Where did you get that?” Kapunan said. She clarified that she had no involvement in any prenuptial agreement. Kapunan also said she has no personal knowledge about the matter. Putting on her “lawyer’s hat,” Kapunan ended the exchange with a lighthearted remark. “I advise all of you girls here, don’t get married,” she said, drawing laughter from reporters. Alonzo’s marriage was confirmed after Makati Mayor Nancy Binay announced on social media that…

Metro Manila, Philippines – The prosecution panel in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial have dropped the Office of the Vice President chief of staff Zuleika Lopez and Legislative Security Bureau executive director Capt. Belinda Bello as witnesses for Impeachment Article IV, on Duterte’s grave threats.  Counsel for prosecutor Lorna Kapunan, in a manifestation on Tuesday, July 14, said her panel would no longer present the two. “We find it totally unnecessary, redundant, and a surplusage to present Atty. Zuleika Lopez and as well Capt. Belinda Bello,” Kapunan told the Impeachment Court.  Kapunan said that they wanted to examine Lopez, a close friend of Duterte, to prove that she was in the detention center when the vice president made her alleged kill threat.  Bello would have corroborated Lopez’s transfer to the House detention center after the House held her in contempt during a hearing on Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds.…

Metro Manila, Philippines – The counsel of Vice President Sara Duterte argued that her statement claiming that she contracted someone to kill the presidential family if she herself were killed were not threats but merely responses to a question during an online press conference.  Senator-judge Pia Cayetano on Tuesday, July 14, the fifth day of the impeachment trial, questioned the two opposing counsels on the nature of a threat. She wanted to know if the victim of a threat needs to feel threatened or is it enough that the public consider a statement threatening to determine that a statement is a grave threat.  Amando Virgil Ligunan, counsel for the prosecutor, cited two Supreme Court rulings: Paera vs. People who ruled that a private complainant is not needed for a grave threats charge, and Garma vs. People, which affirmed that the recipient of a threat does not need to feel threatened…