THE Marikina Regional Trial Court Branch 273 has reset to August 11 the next hearing into the infringement case filed by television hosts Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon against TAPE Inc. over the use of the “Eat Bulaga” name in their respective noontime show programs in TV-5 and GMA-7, respectively.
The court deferred Monday’s hearing after lawyers of TAPE questioned the appearance of Sotto, who is a former Senate President, as a witness.
Sotto was supposed to take his oath as the plaintiff’s second witness in the case, after De Leon testified in the hearing last week, but TAPE lawyers blocked his testimony and said he could not do so in the absence of a judicial affidavit.
Defense lawyers likewise said he could not take the witness stand because he attended last week’s proceedings.
The plaintiff’s lawyer told the court that failure to submit a judicial affidavit does not result to the waiver of testimony of a witness under Section 10 of the Judicial Affidavit Rule.
They likewise argued that the exclusion of witness rule does not apply to a party to the case.
The Marikina Court agreed with the TVJ lawyers that the witness exclusion rule does not apply to Sotto because he is a party to the case.
Likewise, it concurred with the hosts’ lawyers that a judicial affidavit is only for convenience and not a necessity.
However, to dispose of the issue, the Court cancelled the hearing and directed Sotto to submit a judicial affidavit within three days, or until Thursday.
At the same time, the Marikina court reminded both parties to observe the sub judice rule and refrain from discussing the merits of the case in public
The next hearing is on August 11, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. Sotto is expected to take the witness stand.
