Thursday, August 21, 2008 DOJ: Leviste’s sur-rebuttal witnesses biased
THE Department of Justice (DOJ) said former Batangas governor Jose Antonio Leviste has failed to present new and material evidence despite presenting four sur-rebuttal witnesses during Wednesday’s trial of the murder case filed against him before the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC).
Saying Leviste's witnesses are biased since three of the four are employees of the former governor, Senior State Prosecutor Velasco expressed confidence that Makati RTC Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda will junk the testimonies of the defense witnesses on the ground of irrelevance and bias.
In their testimonies, witnesses Salvador Capitin, Enrico Violeta, and Felix Candole admitted that they are drawing income from Leviste's JAL Company (Jalco).
Capitin is the Jalco driver who fetched Rafael de las Alas on that fateful day of January 12, 2007 hours before Leviste shot him to death at LPL Towers in Salcedo Village, Makati. Candole is a building maintainer who has been serving Jalco for the past 27 years.
Violeta, on the other hand, is the general manager of Jalco's Matabungkay and Fortune Island Beach Resorts in Bacoor, Cavite.
Although not employed under Jalco, the fourth witness, Leonardo Santos, has once represented Leviste in a legal settlement concerning one of his properties in Barangay Sun Valley, Parañaque City.
Leviste himself expressed confidence that the prosecution’s argument that he deliberately killed de las Alas early last year rest on flimsy grounds.
“My lawyers believe that there is no need to present sur-rebuttal witnesses since the prosecution had not proven its arguments yet. However, I asked them to proceed with it not for my defense but for proof of the 1,001 lies the prosecution had fabricated," Leviste said.
The former local official added that the defense did not intend originally to present Jalco employees as witnesses.
"Not all my witnesses are my employees. But since most of my employees have the facts, who will we call then aside from them?” he said.
According to defense lawyer Henry Capela, the three witnesses they intend to present on the next hearing may be the last witnesses for the sur-rebuttal phase.
"We decide to rest the case then because we deem it proper to terminate the sur-rebuttal. The presentations we have made are already enough to rest the case," Capela said.
Earlier, Capela said they will present 44 witnesses including Velasco’s father, former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director and Cavite governor Epimaco Velasco, and Makati Police Chief Gilbert Cruz.
Sought for comment, Prosecutor Velasco said the prosecution does not mind the defense's strategy but will only do its job. (AH/Sunnex)
