MindaNews / 14 July 2026 — National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) BARMM regional director Jeremy Lotoc insisted that the evidence they gathered pointed to a plot by Vice President Sara Duterte to kill President Marcos Jr.
Lotoc, however, admitted during the continuation of his cross-examination on Tuesday that their findings were based on their investigation and not on his personal knowledge that such a plot existed.
“We do believe that the Vice President had contracted [someone], but I don’t have personal knowledge, if that is the personal knowledge you want to know about. But we do believe this based on the evidence that we’ve gathered and based on our investigation,” the NBI official told defense counsel Atty. Mark Vinluan during Day 4 of Duterte’s impeachment trial.
Lotoc was referring to the video where the Vice President said that if she gets killed, she had asked a person to kill the President, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the President’s cousin.
The video is included as evidence for Article IV (Assassination Plot, Grave Threats and Inciting to Sedition Against the President) of the impeachment complaint against Duterte.
Lotoc, then head of the NBI Crime Division, led the investigation into Duterte’s threats aired during an online press briefing on November 23, 2024, which she repeated in another video three days after.
Vinluan repeatedly objected to Lotoc’s use of the word “contracted,” saying the witness has no personal knowledge whether Duterte indeed hired an assassin.
Vinluan also objected when private prosecutor Atty. Amando Ligutan, during the redirect examination, asked Lotoc about his impression of Duterte’s emotional state at the time she made the threats.
Vinluan said Lotoc is incompetent to answer the question, apparently alluding to Lotoc’s admission during the cross-examination that he had no training in forensic psychology.
Ligutan responded that Rule 130, Section 53 of the Rules of Court provides that opinions of ordinary witnesses as a general rule are not allowed, but a witness may testify on his impressions on the emotion, behavior, condition or appearance of a person.
The objection was overruled.
In his answer, Lotoc said the Vice President’s utterances showed she was not joking, she appeared furious, and admitted having asked a person to take revenge.
In a statement on Tuesday, Duterte said the impeachment complaint against her “is not supported by evidence.”
“Reportedly claiming that there were threats when none existed, inventing an assassin where there was none, and fabricating evidence to support those claims does not transform into fact. Instead, such actions undermine the integrity of the public institutions, erode public trust, waste public resources, and corrupt the search for truth,” she said.
“An impeachment proceeding should be grounded on credible evidence, not speculation, manufactured narratives, or unsupported allegations. The rule of law depends on facts, not fiction,” she added. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno / MindaNews)
