MANILA, Philippines -- The prosecution will present Wednesday a "surprise" witness in the murder trial of former Batangas governor Jose Antonio Leviste to debunk some of the claims made by the defense.

Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco said the witness, whom he declined to name, would be one of the two he was planning to call to the stand at the 9 a.m. hearing before Judge Elmo Alameda of the Makati regional trial court Branch 150.

"I don't want to divulge the witness' identity just yet because the defense might be able to prepare for it," he said in a phone interview.

Velasco, however, gave a hint about the nature of his witness' testimony.

"The witness will disprove their lies, particularly the lie that the victim [Rafael de Las Alas] arrived early for work on Jan. 12, 2007," he said.

Leviste stands accused of shooting dead his longtime aide, De Las Alas, in his office at the LPL Tower in Legaspi Village, Makati City.

He confessed to the killing but said he did it in self-defense.

In late March, De Las Alas' daughter, Dinna, took the stand to dispute claims by the defense that her father planned to confront Leviste on the day he was killed.

Defense witnesses previously testified that De Las Alas, looking angry and agitated, went to his office building earlier than usual that morning supposedly to confront Leviste over money matters.

Velasco said he might present about 10 more witnesses to rebut all the "lies" allegedly made by the defense. He added that he was expecting to wind up the prosecution rebuttal in two months.