The line of questioning that the defense camp of Vice President Sara Duterte used when cross examining National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Regional Director Atty. Jeremy Lotoc was merely meant to confuse and distract the public from the main issue in the former’s impeachment, a lawmaker said.

Commenting on the strategy of the defense camp of the Vice President in cross examining National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Regional Director Atty. Jeremy Lotoc, House Deputy Speaker Rep. Janette Garin expressed that Duterte's lawyers were deviating from the issue by arguing that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had control over the agency.

Garin stressed that the evidence presented by Lotoc was unshaked, noting that arguments raised did not contest the findings of the report that was first brought to the impeachment court through NBI senior agent John Mark Calilung.

“It is a form of diversion, a deviation from the issue being discussed at hand…what this really just says is that the issue is there, probably, they don’t have an explanation to refute the validity or the truth of the report,” she said.

“Atty. Jeremy Lotoc was very clear. They looked at the aspects of the investigation and what happened was clear and who spoke was the Vice President and it was very clear that it was not just an ordinary threat,” she added.

To recall, during the second day of the impeachment trial, the defense lawyers attempted to establish a connection between Marcos and NBI, noting that the agency was under the Department of Justice (DOJ) that was also below the executive branch.

However, the notion was flagged by senator-judges who asked for the trial as Lotoc likewise denied that the President had anything to do with the investigations they conducted. A matter that was previously established as motu proprio.

Investigations labeled as motu proprio under the NBI are probes that are automatically conducted without the need of a formal complaint, particularly if threats are directed at high ranking public officials like the President and the Vice President.

Speaking on the matter, House Public Prosecutor Rep. Terry Ridon said that the answer of the NBI regional director was able to paint a clear picture–that had Marcos were to instruct the investigative agencies, Duterte would have already been charged.

“How can we actually say that the agencies were directed for their operation when there was a back and forth between the DOJ and the NBI relating to the requirements to file charges?” he raised.

“Because if the order was real, there would be no more questions. So I think that point needs to be made,” he added.

The defense camp of the Vice President is set to resume its cross examination of Lotoc this Tuesday, 14 July, prior to the presentation of the prosecution of Office of the Vice President (OVP) Chief of Staff Atty. Zuleika Lopez as the third witness for the impeachment article on grave threats.