Kapunan on trial performance: Not masterclass, but preparation

MANILA, Philippines —Prosecution counsel Lorna Kapunan deflected praise that her work in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial was a litigation masterclass, crediting instead rigorous preparation and courtroom awareness.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday afternoon following Day 13 of the trial, Kapunan noted that experience is also key, adding that she personally would have skipped reading the defense panel’s pleadings regarding the prosecution’s request for judicial notice concerning the House hearings on Duterte.

Kapunan said that years of experience would tell her that nobody would listen to such arguments, and that it would be better to just file the documents before the court. But even so, Kapunan said no amount of experience will be enough if they will not study.

“Thank you for being kind, it’s not a masterclass, I think it’s because after several years — because I’m probably double, especially the lawyer earlier, I’m probably old enough to be her grandmother, right? […] in this case, after years of practice, you would know that nobody would listen to you. And as you can see it would have been better for her to have just filed the pleading,” Kapunan said of defense lawyer Kristine Ferrer.

“In any event, it is not a masterclass, it’s just that we have been doing this for a while, it is experience. But again, I will always say even with 48 years of experience, there is no substitute for preparation,” she added.

Kapunan said that the level of confidence they have does not come without practice, saying that they do not rely on stock knowledge or face the court in a play-by-ear basis.

READ: Lorna Kapunan lightens mood during impeachment trial

“If you can just see how the public and private prosecutors prepare […] Cong. Joel (Chua) sleeps with a copy of the Rules of Court, if you ask him now, Cong. Joel, what is Rule 130 on admissibility, he can answer that now. Because he memorized it, that is why it comes naturally,” Kapunan said.

“It comes with this level of confidence. This is not stock knowledge. We do not play by ear. We study and evaluate how we can present the evidence, especially with voluminous documents,” she added.

Kapunan on court awareness

Another thing that years of litigation experience has taught her, Kapunan said, is to be self-aware whether people are still listening to the arguments that she is presenting.

According to Kapunan, she has set guidelines for herself that would prompt her to “change gears.”

“My own standard is myself, I am the judge of myself. If I am there in the audience and I (get) bored, that means I’m not doing it right. I am my own judge: for example I will assess if I will be bored with this line of argument, so that is my guideline,” she said.

“And if I see these two men beside me using their cellphones, or if I see senator-judges pretending to listen but are using their cellphones, you should change gears already, do corrective measures. That means either you’re not interesting, you’re not communicating, or it is too long,” she added, referring to Chua and Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong.

Kapunan reiterated her statements when the prosecution chose to withdraw several witness for Article IV of the Articles of Impeachment, which deals with Duterte’s grave threats: they must know when to stop.

“As I said when I made my first manifestation, I said two things: know when to present and not to present. Shorten the presentation and know when to stop. Some of us don’t know when to stop and I will not name these senator-judges,” she noted.

Amid the seriousness — and sometimes tense moments — during the impeachment trial, Kapunan has brought several light moments since she started her direct examination of state auditor Roderick Wamil.

Last Monday, Kapunan brought laughter after she claimed that the reason why she cannot read the acknowledgement receipts (AR) for confidential expenditures made by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) is because the signatory is a certain Andy Lim — which sounds like “ang dilim” or Filipino for “it’s dark.”

When she moved to another AR, Kapunan said that the reason why it is dark may be due to someone’s eyes being closed, referring to another signatory named Alejandro Pikit.

“Pikit” in Filipino means “closing your eyes.”l

At one point, Kapunan asked Wamil to go over around 800 documents, and eventually sought for a recess so that the auditor could check it and for her to be able to sit down.

Prior to that, Kapunan called on counsel Mark Peña to assist in the presentation of documents, asking that the lawyer be recognized as his mother is watching the proceedings.

On Wednesday, as trial was stalled after the defense insisted on checking over 4,000 ARs one-by-one, Kapunan suggested that they use the defense’s own marked ARs to avoid spending Thursday and Friday by merely comparing documents.

Kapunan said that she does not want to use up her Thursday and Friday as she will watch the film Odyssey.

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