Earlier remarks by Vice President Sara Duterte about President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. provided investigators with context as they examined her alleged threats against the country’s top officials, a prosecution witness told the Senate impeachment court Monday.
Lawyer Jeremy Lotoc, former chief of the NBI Cybercrime Division, said the investigation went beyond Duterte’s widely circulated Nov. 23, 2024 online press conference and reviewed her previous public statements.
Lotoc said an open-source investigation uncovered an Oct. 18, 2024 press conference streamed through the official Facebook page of the Office of the Vice President.
“Gusto kong tanggalin iyong ulo niya (I want to remove his head),” Lotoc quoted Duterte as saying in the earlier recording.
He also cited Duterte’s statement, “I imagine myself cutting his head,” which he said referred to Marcos.
Lotoc said investigators reviewed the earlier video while assessing Duterte’s intent, motive and capability in relation to her Nov. 23 statements.
Duterte has said she had spoken to a person and instructed that Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and then-House speaker Martin Romualdez be killed should she herself be killed.
The NBI Cybercrime Division began investigating the matter on Nov. 23 upon the instruction of then-NBI director Jaime Santiago, according to Lotoc. He described the unit’s work as investigating crimes committed through information and communication technology, including high-profile cases under relevant laws.
He said the probe followed four stages: identification and preservation of digital evidence; collection and hashing; analysis and attribution; and legal evaluation and case filing.
The Nov. 23 recording was livestreamed through the Facebook page of former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, Lotoc said.
Investigators generated a hash value for the video, which Lotoc described as its digital “fingerprint” or “DNA,” to help establish that the evidence remained unchanged.
‘Serious Threats’
Lotoc laid out before the Senate impeachment court the factors that led investigators to regard Duterte’s alleged threats as serious rather than mere political rhetoric.
He said the investigative team assessed Duterte’s words, manner of delivery, instructions and relationship with the officials she mentioned.
“To me, as the chief investigator at that time, the utterances made by the Vice President were serious and the threat was real and actual,” Lotoc said.
He confirmed that the assessment was included in the investigation report prepared by his team.
Lotoc said investigators considered four factors: the manner in which Duterte delivered the remarks, their literal meaning, the nature of the alleged instruction, and her relationship with the parties involved.
The team also reviewed the content and context of Duterte’s Oct. 18 and Nov. 23, 2024 statements, as well as the reactions of the alleged targets and government agencies.
Asked about Duterte’s demeanor in the Nov. 23 online press conference, Lotoc described her as “furious and fuming mad.”
Duterte has maintained her statement was taken out of context and did not constitute an active threat against the three officials.
‘Matter Of National Security’
Lotoc said the country’s security agencies also considered Duterte’s assassination threats against President Marcos as “serious” and “a matter of national security.”
On questioning by prosecution counsel Amando Virgil Ligutan, Lotoc said in the course of his investigation, he noted the expressions of concern of the National Security Council (NSC), Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on the Vice President’s statements.
He quoted the NSC statement: “The National Security Council considers all threats to the President of the Philippines as serious.”
“Any and all threats against the life of the President shall be validated and considered a matter of national security,” he added.
The witness said the PNP, in its statement, referred to an assassin the Vice President claimed to have contracted to carry out her assassination threats.
“The PNP used the term assassin,” Lotoc said.
He read the PNP statement: “The Philippine National Police treats any threat to the safety and security of the President and all public officials with utmost seriousness.”
“In light of Vice President Sara Duterte’s recent statements, which directly referenced an assassin contracted to target the President, the PNP recognizes the grave nature of this matter,” it said.
“The safety of the President is a national concern and any direct or indirect threat to his life must be addressed with the highest level of urgency.”
On the other hand, Lotoc said the AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner issued the following declaration: “The Armed Forces of the Philippines is a professional organization focused on its mandate to protect the people and the state. Our personnel are loyal to the constitution and the chain of command.”
‘Threats Crossed Free Speech Limits’
Lotoc also said Duterte’s freedom-of-expression defense cannot be invoked to shield remarks that investigators found could constitute criminal threats.
“We failed to see any amount of freedom of speech in that utterance,” Lotoc said.
He warned that treating such remarks as protected speech could normalize similar conduct and leave individuals free to issue threats against others under the guise of constitutional expression.
“Imagine the anarchy and the chaos it would bring to our country,” he said.
Lotoc, now NBI regional director for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, was presented by the House prosecution to explain how investigators examined the context and digital trail of Duterte’s remarks. He told the court that he joined the Philippine Bar in 2013 and has been with the NBI for 12 years.
Article IV of the Articles of Impeachment concerns Duterte’s alleged public threats against Marcos, Araneta-Marcos, and Romualdez.
Pending Cases
Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida on Monday said criminal complaints filed against Duterte remain pending before the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Prosecutors.
“Yung impeachment process ay ibang proseso. ‘Yan ang proseso niyan ay para mapanagot ang isang impeachable officer ‘pag merong basehan? At ‘yan nga ‘yung ibinibigay ng impeachment court natin na Senado (The impeachment is a different process. That process is to hold an impeachable officer accountable if there is sufficient basis. That is what the impeachment court is doing in the Senate),” Vida said.
“Sa Department of Justice, ang pananagutan namang kriminal ay base sa pananagutan ng kriminal na batas. At ‘yan ay may hiwalay na paglalakbay (In the Department of Justice, the liability is for violation of the law. It is a different proceeding).”
Last February, the NBI filed grave threats and inciting to sedition charges against Duterte before the DOJ after a thorough evaluation. (With a report from Jose Cielito Reganit, Zaldy de Layola and Benjamin Pulta/PNA)