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By James Konstantin Galvez Reporter
After numerous delays, the Makati
Regional Trial Court has set weekly hearings for the presentation of
the defense evidence of former governor Antonio Leviste of Batangas
from October 24 until December 12.
Leviste is on trial for allegedly
killing his former business associate and aide, Rafael de las Alas,
on January 12 in his Makati office.
Judge Elmo Alameda of Branch 150
of the Makati RTC has set the date of the presentation of the
defense evidence after the conclusion of the pretrial of the case
against Leviste.
In an interview, Senior State
Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco said that the prosecution indicated
before the sala of Alameda that it would no longer present any
evidence since this process was already finished during Leviste’s
hearing to post bail.
“There is no need to present
any evidence as we had done it during the bail hearing. We had
indicated it before Judge Alameda,” he said.
The defendant is set to begin his
defense on October 24 with his lawyers submitting a list of eight
names as witnesses.
Six of the eight witnesses were
Leviste’s employees, who, according to Velasco, rejected him when
he sought for their testimonies.
Earlier in the course of the
hearing, Velasco presented police investigators, doctors, de las
Alas’ daughter, Dina, and even Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay as
witnesses to determine if there is enough evidence to justify the
denial of bail to Leviste.
Velasco said their testimonies
were intended to show that there was premeditation, treachery and
cruelty in the killing of de las Alas.
Alameda, however, ruled that the
prosecution had failed to show sufficient evidence that the elements
of the crime of murder were present, and granted Leviste bail on May
23. He also rejected Velasco’s subsequent appeals.
Leviste’s lawyers had
questioned the reinvestigation conducted by the Department of
Justice which resulted in their client’s case being upgraded from
homicide to murder.
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