Metro Manila, Philippines – The Impeachment Court on Tuesday, July 7, began tackling Article IV on the remarks of Vice President Sara Duterte in 2024 that she hired an assassin to kill President Bongbong Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza-Araneta Marcos, and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez if she herself were killed.
Duterte was present in the Senate shortly before the trial to meet with her defense panel, but did not appear in court.
At the start of the trial proceedings, private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan sought Duterte’s attendance as she was earlier present in the building.
Court presiding officer Chiz Escudero, however, said court rules do not require Duterte to attend proceedings as she is represented by her counsel.
Kapunan said the prosecution would not waive its right to subpoena Duterte to attend the trial.
First witness summoned
The prosecution summoned its first witness, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) senior agent John Mark Calilung. He was part of the agency’s investigation on Duterte’s alleged threats.
Calilung recorded Duterte’s statement on a laptop and filed a request with Meta to preserve the recording.
Defense counsel Cj Narvasa repeatedly objected to the examination by Amando Ligutan, counsel for public prosecutors, of Calilung, arguing that the documents on the agent’s investigation and affidavit on Duterte’s claims were not certified true copies.
Ligutan also sought to show the court a two-minute excerpt of Duterte’s statement, highlighting the section where the alleged threats were made. Narvasa, on the other hand, argued that the court should watch the whole video which is over two hours long in order to understand the context.
Presiding officer Chiz Escudero overruled this and, after a brief suspension, said that showing only the relevant portion of the video would save on time and also to support the allegations from the prosecution’s perspective, as the defense panel would do the same when presenting its own evidence.
The prosecution was allowed to play the two-minute video where Duterte said she asked someone to kill the president, first lady, and former speaker. This excerpt is the primary basis of impeachment article IV.
It also presented other clips where she made alleged threats of violence. In one clip, Duterte said she wants to remove someone’s head.
In another, Duterte recounted a conversation with Senator Imee Marcos where she said: “Kung hindi tayo tumigil, huhukayin ko yung tatay ninyo, itatapon ko siya sa West Philippine Sea, sinabihan ko si Senator Imee [Marcos].” She was referring to the remains of the late former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, the family patriarch.
[Translation: If you don’t stop, I will unearth your father and throw him in the West Philippine Sea.]
