Witness says VP Sara threats were ‘alarming, disturbing, serious’

The verbal threats uttered by Vice President Sara Duterte against high-ranking public officials were both alarming, disturbing, and serious when taking into consideration the impact that such statements had on nationwide peace and order, an official from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said.

Called as the second witness for the prosecution in the impeachment trial against Duterte, NBI BARMM Regional Director Atty. Jeremy Lotoc stated that they considered various factors when looking into the infamous press conference of the Vice President held on 23 November 2024.

Asked by House private prosecutor Atty. Armando Virgil Ligutan the matter of how the investigative body analyzed and contextualized the utterances, Lotoc answered that they had considered four different factors.

The considerations of the NBI were said to be the delivery of manner in which the utterances were spoken, the literal meaning of the statement, the nature of the instruction, and the relationship between the parties.

Lotoc also confirmed that there were several instances prior to the press conference wherein Duterte had shared similar sentiments, prompting their group to carry out a thorough investigation into the issue.

"We want to establish the intent of the Vice President and that intent is crucial in our investigation whether those utterances made by the Vice President were just a product of a temporary fit of anger, spur of the moment, or were they really serious, actual, and real threat," he told the court.

The regional director, based on his assessment, asserted that they had viewed the threats as serious and real.

Contracting an assassin investigated

Aside from investigating the threats and utterances by itself, Lotoc explained that they also investigated the supposed hiring of an assassin to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

He said that the reasoning behind such a probe was to establish that there was “intent” behind the statements of the Vice President and that they were not mere “jokes” as she implied during the press conference.

"Basically it's indicative of intent, that the utterances were deliberately made by the Vice President, it really shows serious, actual, and real threat," he expressed.

"It shows persistence on the part of the Vice President, that she was determined to carry out those utterances and from the point of view of a law enforcement agency like the NBI it's alarming for us," he added.

Elaborating on the matter further, Lotoc stressed that the incident was “alarming” as it posed a dangerous precedent and potential trigger for the groups or individuals that have ill-intent against the same individuals mentioned by Duterte.

He further argued that there may be a scenario that could arise that in the event that the Marcoses and Romualdez were in fact killed, that the Vice President would be held liable.

"Other groups, other individuals may take advantage of it, god forbid something happens to the Vice President one way or another, the instruction would be triggered and then, god forbid again, they would kill the President, Liza Marcos, and the former speaker," he said.

The reactions of the respondents

One of the other factors that the investigators took into consideration when it came to their probe was the reaction of the recipients to the threats against them.

Lotoc said that the reactions were likewise meant to establish that the President, first lady, and the former House Speaker were threatened and took the same as a serious and actual threat–noting that it was material to the evidence.

The regional director also mentioned that their comparisons between different recordings were “disturbing” as there were several utterances that highlighted the mentioned observations that they had.

"Based on these patterns and consistencies in the utterances of the Vice President, it appears that these statements have tendency to steer up the people against the government, have tendency to disturb the peace of community, have tendency to undermine the public peace and order," he said.