A 15-year-old video showing Vice President Sara Duterte punching a court sheriff has become a key point of contention in her impeachment trial, with her defense arguing on Thursday that prosecutors have stripped the incident of its context to support allegations of a "pattern of violence."

The footage, taken in 2011 when Duterte was mayor of Davao City, was presented earlier this week by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag as part of the prosecution's effort to establish that Duterte had demonstrated violent behavior before making the remarks that now form the basis of her impeachment.

Defense spokesperson Michael Poa said the legal team would challenge that narrative before the Senate impeachment court.

"I think context is important," Poa said in a television interview.

Matibag cited the sheriff-punching incident as one of the cases the NBI considered in concluding that Duterte exhibited a "pattern of violence" while investigating her November 2024 statement that she had arranged for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to be killed should she herself be assassinated first.

Poa said the prosecution failed to account for the circumstances surrounding the 2011 confrontation.

He pointed to Sen. Christopher Go's questioning of Matibag on Wednesday, during which the senator said the incident occurred while authorities were carrying out a demolition affecting 217 families displaced by flash floods that had killed 31 people.

According to Go, Duterte had appealed to the sheriff to postpone the demolition because the families had nowhere else to relocate.

"We don't want to discount what happened, but the surrounding circumstances on why those things happened should also be properly considered," Poa said.

He also questioned the legal significance of the incident, saying it took place years before Duterte assumed an impeachable office.

Poa cited Supreme Court jurisprudence stating that impeachable offenses are "acts or omissions committed while someone is occupying an impeachable office."

"At that time, she was not yet an impeachable officer," he said.

Violent behavior

Beyond disputing the 2011 incident, Poa rejected suggestions that Duterte has a history of violent behavior.

He denied longstanding claims that the vice president had once thrown a laptop at him.

“Nasabi nga noong minsan, nabato ako ng laptop, that's not true, totally not true. Hindi ako nabato ng laptop or anything,” he said.

Poa, who has worked with Duterte since 2022, said he has never seen her become physically aggressive or even raise her voice.

“If they’re saying that because of that press conference…they consider that as an outburst, then that’s why we need to show context on why that happened. It’s not her character kasi. That’s something we need to successfully show in the public,” the defense spokesperson added. 

He described Duterte as "very decisive" and said the defense also intends to counter what it views as an inaccurate public image of the vice president.

"In a way, we have to show that what she is being portrayed as is actually not what she is," Poa said.

“Sa amin, hindi pa naman talaga na-establish na banta yung nangyari. I always say we cannot deny the utterance… But it's really more of the context,” he added.

The impeachment trial opened with prosecutors presenting the article accusing Duterte of grave threats stemming from her November 2024 online statement that she had arranged for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to be killed if she were assassinated first.