National Bureau of Investigation director Melvin Matibag on Tuesday downplayed the typographical errors in the subpoenas and affidavits related to the bureau’s probe into Vice President Sara Duterte’s alleged kill plot against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family, calling it a “clear oversight” that is common in templated documents.

Matibag was referring to multiple clerical errors flagged by the defense and senator-judges in the documents issued by the NBI in late 2024, which formed part of the prosecution’s evidence in Article 4, alleging that the VP committed a grave threat against the President.

Grave threats is one of the grounds that constitute an impeachable offense under the Constitution.

“You know, that really happens, subpoenas are based on templates. So sometimes the process is that they just cut and paste. So there are times inadvertent oversight occurs where the date doesn’t get updated,” Matibag explained in Filipino in a radio interview.

He added, “It was a clear oversight that was already addressed.”

The errors were flagged during the first day of the testimony of NBI Regional director Jeremy Lotoc, the second witness of the prosecution for Article 4.

His testimony primarily centered on the NBI’s investigation into Duterte’s controversial remarks during a press conference on 18 October and 23 November 2024.

Duterte was quoted as saying in the October briefing that she wanted to behead Marcos after realizing that their relationship had become “toxic.”

One month later, a visibly enraged Duterte revealed in an online midnight online briefing that she had contracted a hitman to kill Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos, and then Speaker Martin Romualdez if she herself were killed first.

Sara’s threats outside free speech

Lotoc said the NBI found the threat to be “serious” and falling outside the bounds of free speech, prompting an investigation. The NBI subsequently forwarded the complaints to the Department of Justice in January 2025, charging Duterte with three counts of grave threats and one count of inciting to sedition.

However, during cross-examination, the defense and several senator-judges questioned inaccuracies in the documents submitted as part of the complaint.

For instance, Senator-judge Imee Marcos flagged an NBI subpoena issued to ABS-CBN, compelling the network to submit an authenticated copy of Duterte’s November online press briefing.

The subpoena was dated 6 November, although the bureau was only directed to launch a probe into the matter after the 23 November press conference. In addition, the lawmaker also pointed to an NBI affidavit which bore the same date, but was not released on that day.

Marcos argued that these errors suggested the NBI may have already been keeping an eye on the VP long before she uttered the kill threat.