DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 7 July 2026) — Article IV on the alleged assassination plot, grave threats, and inciting sedition against the government will be the first Article of Impeachment that will be heard in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte starting Tuesday.
Eleven of the 62 trial dates for the Prosecution are allotted for the hearing on Article IV, according to the Pre-Trial Order issued by the Senate Impeachment Court on June 29.
The next Article that will be heard will be Article I on alleged misuse and misappropriation of confidential funds, which will have 31 trial dates; followed by Article III on alleged bribery and corruption within the Department of Education, with eight trial dates; and Article II on alleged unexplained wealth, false SALNs, and continued business interests, with 12 trial dates.
Article IV charges the Vice President with other high crimes and betrayal of public trust through her public statements. In the early hours of November 23, 2024, during an online press briefing from inside the House of Representatives where her chief of staff Zuleika Lopez was detained and was to be transferred to a detention facility, a furious Duterte said no one should worry about her security because if she is killed, she had already spoken to someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker
Martin Romualdez. “No joke, no joke,” she declared.
In another statement before the media a few days later, Duterte said: “Is revenge from the grave a crime?”
The 1987 Constitution provides that “in case of death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation of the President, the Vice-President shall become the President to serve the unexpired term.”
The Prosecution panel describes Article IV as the “least complicated charge to prove” and will present evidence based on testimonies and video recordings.
According to the Pre-Trial Order, the Prosecution has proposed to present 10 witnesses for Article IV: Belinda Bello, Jeremy Lotoc, John Mark Calilung, Atty. Melvin Matibag, Philippine National Police Firearms and Explosives Office Representative, Mikhail Flores, Bonz Magsambol, Sheriff Abe Andres, Family member of a victim of threats, and Psychiatrist.
Bello is Executive Director of the Legislative Security Bureau of the House of Representatives, Lotoc is regional director of the National Bureau of Investigation, Calilung is a senior agent at the NBI, Matibag is Director of the National Bureau of Investigation, Flores is a Reuters correspondent, Magsambol is a former reporter of Rappler, and Andres was the Sheriff in Davao City who was punched by Duterte on July 1, 2011 during Duterte’s first term as Davao City mayor.
Andres posted on his social media page on June 26 that he does not want to be involved in “any partisan political matters.”
“Please do not involve me in any PARTISAN political matters. I have been appointed in the Supreme Court as a Human Resource Management Officer, a second level position,” Andres said, adding that it has been “my position ever since to refuse to comment on the incident when I was holding a first level position, particularly, Sheriff IV of the Regional Trial Court.”
The Prosecution, according to the Pre-Trial Order, reserved the right to present additional or substitute witnesses as the circumstances may warrant. (MindaNews)
