Sara: Case not backed by evidence

Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday said the fourth day of her Senate impeachment trial reinforced her claim that the case against her was unsupported by evidence, after the proceedings focused on allegations that she threatened the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and two others.

In a statement, Duterte rejected the prosecution’s presentation, accusing it of building its case on fabricated claims rather than on proof.

“The country witnessed what I have been saying all along: the complaint is not supported by evidence,” she said.

“Repeatedly claiming that there were threats when none existed, inventing an assassin where there was none, and fabricating evidence to support those claims does not transform fiction into fact,” Duterte said.

She argued that such actions undermine public institutions, erode public trust, waste public resources, and “corrupt the search for the truth.”

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) regional director Jeremy Lotoc testified on Monday as a prosecution witness on the article of impeachment accusing Duterte of making grave threats.

Lotoc said NBI investigators concluded that Duterte’s November 2024 remarks against Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez were “serious” and warranted criminal charges.

On cross-examination, however, the defense pressed Lotoc on the absence of validated information identifying any hired assassin, arguing that investigators had no evidence that anyone had actually been hired to carry out the plot.

The prosecution countered that the offense of grave threats did not depend on proving the existence of a hired killer.