House Public Prosecutor Rep. Joel Chua admitted that he felt threatened and scared when Vice President Sara Duterte hurled threats against him in 2024.

“Well, when it was first stated, on the night the incident happened, subject to the grave threat now, at that time, of course you can not hide the fact that I was slightly scared,” Chua said during a press conference.

“It was not an ordinary person that utters such words, it was the second highest official in the land,” he noted.

To recall, at the time that the lawmaker was called out by the Vice President, the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability that Chua chairs was conducting a probe into the issue of confidential funds under the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

Duterte had claimed that the investigation of the committee was impeding their ability to conduct their work, particularly as her Chief of Staff Atty. Zuleika Lopez was detained at the House of Representatives after being cited in contempt.

Given such statements, Chua stated that such utterances merely proved that Duterte had a “violent nature” that could not be considered as one of the characteristics that such a high ranking public official should have.

“We can see here through the utterances and the video that was shown was her violent nature that is very unbecoming of the Vice President of the country,” he said.

Reiterating his previous sentiments, Chua mentioned that because of his fear he decided to hire security personnel, noting the “capacity” of the Duterte family as one of his reasons.

“Truthfully I did not have security, but after that I hired security personnel because the person that uttered the threats was not an ordinary individual,” he explained.

The presentation of the video where Chua was cursed out by the Vice President was part of the impeachment trial against the latter that officially resumed on Monday, 13 July, with National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Regional Director Atty. Jeremy Lotoc taking the witness stand.