Contracted assassin will be unmasked — Andres

The Department of Justice (DoJ) will involve other government agencies in its effort to uncover the truth behind Vice President Sara Duterte’s viral video outburst, in which she claimed to have contracted someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos-Araneta, and Speaker Martin Romualdez.

In the expletive-laced livestream last Saturday, Duterte said the assassin would carry out her order in the event she herself was assassinated, a plot she said that was being hatched by administration forces.

The DoJ strategy was revealed by Justice Undersecretary Jesse Andres in a radio interview Thursday morning during which he expressed confidence they would be able to identify the hitman whose services Duterte allegedly engaged.

“The government has the capacity to determine the identity of the person whom she engaged in due time,” Andres said, adding the DoJ has involved the intelligence community to unmask the assassin.

“We have engaged the intelligence community to learn the details about the person tasked with carrying out her order to kill the President, the First Lady, and Speaker Romualdez. This is happening simultaneously,” Andres said.

He added, “All law enforcement agencies will be involved to protect the highest official of the land because this is a threat to national security.”

Andres said the NBI was open to rescheduling its summons to the Vice President to appear at the bureau on Friday, 29 November.

“In my opinion, it’s possible to approve the rescheduling as the Vice President has a prior commitment in the House of Representatives, if I’m not mistaken,” Andres said.

He said the Vice President would be given the opportunity to present her side to the NBI.

“Most likely that will happen early next week. Given the urgency, we will aim to do it sooner, probably Monday or Tuesday,” he said.