The affidavit of confessed Davao Death Squad (DDS) leader Arturo Lascañas linking Vice President Sara Duterte to the group notoriously known for the alleged killings of criminals in the city was entered into the Senate impeachment court records after it was cited by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Melvin Matibag to support the claim that Duterte is capable of carrying out the “kill plot” against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Matibag is the third NBI witness to testify on Article IV of the Articles of Impeachment which centers on the alleged grave threats Duterte made against Marcos in several public statements in late 2024.

Matibag said the threats, including the press conference on 23 November 2024 where Duterte claimed to have contracted a gunman to kill the President, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and then House speaker Martin Romualdez, revealed that the VP showed a “pattern of violence.”

Matibag said the NBI has obtained leads on persons of interest that could identify the alleged gunman supposedly hired by the Vice President. He declined to reveal their identities, however.

“In that affidavit, Lascañas describes and says that the Vice President herself was involved in Oplan Tokhang, and as one of the architects of Oplan Tokhang,” Matibag said during the cross-examination by House lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro.

“Oplan Tokhang” was also the anti-drug campaign waged by the previous administration under former President Rodrigo Duterte, the VP’s father.

Quoting from Lascañas’ affidavit, Matibag said VP Duterte ordered that drug dealers and criminals be “kidnapped” and their bodies be buried at Laud Quarry, a mass grave in Davao, to evade media scrutiny since the rampant killings in the city had gained significant attention at the time.

Before being elected Vice President in 2022, Duterte served several terms as mayor and vice mayor of Davao City beginning in 2007. Her father ruled the city as early as 1988.

Lascañas was a retired Davao police officer who claimed to have killed nearly 200 people allegedly on former President Duterte’s orders as the then city mayor as part of his campaign to purge criminals and drug dealers in Davao.

Lascañas testified against former President Duterte in a Senate inquiry in 2017, detailing his role in the Davao Death Squad and how Duterte allegedly ordered the summary killings. He went into hiding after his explosive testimony.

Lascañas also submitted an affidavit to the prosecutors of The Hague-based International Criminal Court, where the former president has been detained on charges of crimes against humanity since 11 March last year.

Lascañas affidavit, according to Matibag, formed part of the ongoing investigation into VP Duterte’s threats against President Marcos, which is being conducted by a special NBI task force.

Matibag’s testimony focused primarily on the NBI’s investigation into Vice President Duterte’s controversial remarks made during press conferences on 18 October and 23 November 2024.

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

One month later, a visibly enraged VP Duterte revealed in an online midnight briefing that she had contracted a hitman to assassinate Marcos, the First Lady, and Romualdez, if she herself were killed first.

‘Misleading, improper’

Defense lawyer Mark Vinluan argued that NBI director Melvin Matibag was not competent to testify on the contents of Arturo Lascañas’ affidavit because he neither executed nor authenticated the document. He warned that allowing the testimony could mislead both the senator-judges and the public.

House prosecutor Gerville Luistro countered that the affidavit qualified as a “declaration against interest,” noting that Lascañas admitted his alleged role in the Davao Death Squad.

Vinluan, however, dismissed the document as a mere “scrap of paper,” saying it had not been formally offered as evidence during pre-trial.

Matibag said the NBI reopened its investigation into Duterte’s alleged threats after he assumed office, describing them as “serious, active, and continuing.” He maintained that law enforcement viewed the statements not merely as threats but as an alleged assassination plot against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., making them a national security concern.

Vinluan also questioned the relevance of the NBI special task force, saying it was not covered by the Articles of Impeachment.