It's week two of Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial. This week the prosecution finished up on the grave threat charge. In 2024 Sara Duterte made a Facebook video where she claimed that if she were to be killed she had hired a hitman to assassinate President Marcos, his wife, and the Speaker of the House. Yet Sara claims there is no evidence this happened!
 |
| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2263453/sara-duterte-maintains-kill-plot-vs-marcos-not-supported-by-evidence |
Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday maintained that the impeachment complaint involving her alleged assassination plot against President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos and former Speaker Martin Romualdez is not supported by evidence.
Duterte made the statement shortly before the commencement of Tuesday’s proceedings, where her chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, is expected to be called as the House prosecution panel’s third witness.
“On Day 4 of the impeachment trial, the country witnessed what I have been saying all along: the complaint is not supported by evidence,” said Duterte in a statement.
Duterte specified the fourth day of the trial as her defense team pointed out inconsistencies in the dates of the affidavit and docket numbers in the files of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) during one of her lawyers Mark Vinluan’s cross-examination of the prosecution’s second witness, NBI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc.
“Repeatedly 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 fiction into fact. Instead, such actions undermine the integrity of public institutions, erode public trust, waste public resources, and corrupt the search for truth,” she added.
Duterte stressed that impeachment proceedings should be grounded only on credible evidence, not speculation, manufactured narratives or unsupported allegations.
“The rule of law depends on facts, not fiction,” said Duterte.
The Senate impeachment court is currently tackling Article IV of the impeachment complaints against Duterte, which involve the kill plot the vice president herself revealed against Marcos, his wife and cousin.
She cannot be this daft. The video wherein she made the threat IS the evidence. Here is the threat she made:
"Don't worry, Ma'am, about my security, because I have already talked to someone. I told him, if they kill me, kill BBM [President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.], Liza Araneta [the First Lady], and Martin Romualdez [former House Speaker]. No joke, no joke. I have already given my instructions, Ma'am. If I die, I said, 'do not stop until you kill them.' And then he said yes."
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2260041/sara-dutertes-kill-threat-vs-marcos-absolute-says-witness
It need not be proven that there was an actual hitman or that the threats were real. (Never mind that she twice repeated it was no joke.) What has to be proven is that she made the threat and is thus unfit for office. This is an impeachment trial not a criminal trial. The difference is crucial.
 |
| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2263855/kapunan-defense-tried-to-divert-us-from-impeachment-to-criminal-case |
The defense panel tried to divert discussions on the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte to a criminal matter and deliberately misinform the public about the evidence needed for a conviction, counsel for the prosecution Lorna Kapunan claimed on Tuesday.
In a press briefing after the fifth day of the trial, Kapunan said that they were thankful to senator-judges who steered back discussions to the merits of an impeachment case, after the defense mentioned that grave threats cases should be tried before municipal trial courts (MTCs) or regional trial courts (RTCs), and inciting to sedition raps before MTCs.
“What they have tried to do, and we are very appreciative that they brought it back to discussions of impeachable offense because we were talking about prison penalties, that it should be MTC that should handle grave threats cases and inciting to sedition […] There is a deliberate attempt to misinform the viewing public,” Kapunan told reporters.
“This is not a criminal case. The criminal case, yes, that is pending with the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation), one count of sedition and three counts of grave threats; that is the criminal case pending before the DOJ (Department of Justice). And that was what the defense focused on, the criminal case. But wait, this is so far from the pending criminal case with the DOJ,” she added.
According to Kapunan, discussions of an impeachment case should focus on the fitness of an impeachable official to serve, based on the issues raised against her — in this case, alleged betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.
“What we are talking about here is not the criminal cases. We are talking about fitness. A public official who makes statements like that, who has shown her emotional instability, who has shown how she can, and is capable of, carrying out her threats — what is that? Is that punishable by six months’ imprisonment?” Kapunan said.
The fact that this is an impeachment trial and not a criminal trial makes all the difference when it comes to the burden of proof. All the prosecution needs to do is prove that Sara is unfit to serve as Vice President.
Sara and her defense team claim that she made those threats in response to Operation Romanov which was a plan to take her out. But the NBI says Operation Romanov was a threat made to the Marcoses by Sara's brother.
 |
| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2264874/ex-nbi-director-oplan-romanov-a-threat-vs-marcoses-not-vp-duterte |
Former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Jaime Santiago said the so-called “Operation Romanov” is a plot to supposedly eliminate the Marcos family — not Vice President Sara Duterte.
Santiago was NBI director when Duterte held an online press conference in November 2024, where she supposedly said that she already contacted an individual to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez should she be killed first. He served as the leader of the bureau from June 2024 to January 2025.
In an interview, Santiago explained that the term “Oplan Romanov” first came from Davao City Mayor Baste Duterte during a forum in Davao in January 2024.
He recalled that the younger Duterte warned Marcos that before he sleeps, he must think about “Romanov” and what happened to their family in 1986 when his father, former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., was ousted through the People Power Revolution.
The former NBI director then noted that he was surprised when vlogger Princess Maui brought up the “Oplan Romanov” during the online press conference as supposedly a threat to the vice president’s life.
“Oplan Romanov was Baste’s warning to the president and to the first family. Why did it become VP Sara’s? It’s not VP Sara’s,” Santiago noted in the interview on Wednesday.
“Then you see VP Sara, she herself said that this is the second time I heard about Romanov,” he added.
Is the former NBI Chief a liar or is Sara Duterte a liar?
The shenanigans in court were not limited to the lawyers. Two Senator-Judges also threw their hat into the ring. First up is Cayetano.
 |
| https://mb.com.ph/2026/07/14/alan-cayetano-defends-mayor-baste-vs-allegations-linking-him-to-romanov-threat |
Senator-Judge Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday, July 14 defended Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte from allegations he could be involved in the so-called “Operation Romanov.”
Cayetano pointed this out after a sudden twist in the testimony of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) -BARMM Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc emerged during the fifth day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Lotoc, responding to the queries of Senator-Judges Raffy Tulfo and Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, reversed an earlier impression and affirmed that the supposed target of the assassination plot was actually not the Vice President but President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and his family.
In his testimony before the Senate Impeachment Court, Lotoc said that NBI investigators were able to come across a speech by Mayor Duterte in a January rally where he allegedly uttered a warning against President Marcos to think about what happened to Russia’s Romanov family.
The Romanov family was the last imperial dynasty to rule Russia and were executed by Bolshevik revolutionaries in 1917.
“It’s fair that you mentioned him. It’s fair that you mentioned him in your investigation. But I don’t think we should draw a conclusion here that Mayor Baste was threatening the First Family,” Cayetano reasoned out.
“Because remember, there’s a thin line between a warning and a threat…So if I tell you, Mr. Witness, since we’re both lawyers, be careful of what you say, that could be a fair warning, right? That could not be a threat, right?” he pointed out.
“If there is a threat that was relayed to you and I don’t like it, I can file charges against you. But that could be an illegal threat, right? But it can also be a warning. So I just want that on the record, Mr. Presiding Officer, Mr. Senate President. Because everyone’s watching. And in the same manner, we have to be fair to the First Family,” he said.
But Cayetano urged the Impeachment Court to refrain from making immediate conclusions about the Davao city mayor.
“We have to be fair also to Mayor Baste and to the Duterte’s, rather than draw a conclusion that there was an actual (threat). Mentioning Romanov and Oplan Romanov are two different things. It may be the same thing, it may be a different thing…We don’t know,” he emphasized.
“So let’s just be circumspect, and careful from making conclusions,” the senator appealed.
Oh, so it was just a warning to Marcos that he should remember the Romanov Family? The family that was murdered by the communists? Here are his full comments.
“Just a simple message sa atong Pangulo (for our President): from now on, before you go to bed, think of the Romanovs, think of Benito Mussolini and his wife, think of what happened to you in 1986. Maybe you will reconsider the direction that you are taking,” Duterte said during his 12-minute speech at the prayer rally.
https://mindanews.com/top-stories/2024/01/remember-edsa-baste-tells-president-marcos-jr/
Duterte referenced the murder of the Romanov Family, the execution of the Mussolinis, and the Marcos family fleeing the Philippines. Why mention the Romanovs and Mussolinis knowing that they died violent deaths at the hand of the people unless that was a veiled threat?
Unsurprisingly Senator Padilla out-clowned everyone by claiming he is a communist!
 |
| https://mb.com.ph/2026/07/14/komunista-ako-robin-padilla-likens-dutertes-to-romanovs-who-fought-communists |
Senator-judge Robin Padilla on Tuesday, July 14 drew parallels between the fall of Russia's Romanov dynasty and the Duterte family as he questioned a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) official during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Questioning NBI Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc, Padilla shifted the discussion to the historical background of the Romanovs, arguing that understanding the context was essential to interpreting references to "Operation Romanov" made during Duterte's controversial November 2024 press conference.
Padilla asked Lotoc whether he knew the history of the Romanovs and who was responsible for the execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.
Lotoc replied that he only knew the Romanovs were connected to the Russian tsar but admitted he could not recall the full historical background.
Padilla then asserted that it was communists who executed the Romanov family, before drawing a comparison with the Marcoses and the Dutertes.
"Because, I am sitting next to one of the Marcos family members. We all know... Apo Lakay Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was the number one fighter against the communists here in the Philippines," Padilla said.He went on to say that former president Rodrigo Duterte was the second Philippine president to fight communists and suggested that the "Romanov" reference should be viewed as a threat against political families leading the country's anti-communist campaign.
"I'm a communist," Padilla said.
"Shouldn’t we think of ‘Romanov’ as referring to the threat that enters the families of leaders in our country who are fighting against communists?" Padilla asked.
Lotoc declined to adopt the senator's interpretation, saying the matter falls under the NBI's intelligence service.
“As far as the investigation into whether or not there is a ‘Romanov’ or ‘Operation Romanov,’ that falls under our intelligence service. I think the one who can answer that is our director," he said.
Padilla continued by arguing that Davao City Mayor Sebastian "Baste" Duterte's mention of the Romanovs should be understood in the context of threats against leaders fighting communist insurgents. He also pointed out that Vice President Duterte succeeded her father as chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
When Padilla asked whether he agreed that Sara Duterte faced similar threats because she took over the government's anti-insurgency campaign, Lotoc replied that he had no personal knowledge of the alleged threat.
"I don't have personal knowledge, sir," he said.
Padilla then pressed Lotoc on whether he had personal knowledge that the Vice President had hired an assassin to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Lotoc maintained that he did not.
Earlier in the day's proceedings, Lotoc testified that the NBI Cybercrime Division did not consider information about the alleged "Operation Romanov" from a certain "Princess Maui" to be reliable and said the term "Romanov" appeared to have originally been used by Baste Duterte as a warning directed at President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family, rather than at Vice President Duterte.
Padilla said "former president Rodrigo Duterte was the second Philippine president to fight communists" which is not true because every President since Marcos Sr. has been fighting the Communists and Duterte was a friend and protector to them while he was Mayor of Davao.
He then "suggested that the "Romanov" reference should be viewed as a threat against political families leading the country's anti-communist campaign." Which then led to his bizarre declaration that he is a communist! Is he then a threat to the Duterte's? He apparently did not think it through!
Later Padilla attempted to clarify his statement.
The senator said Marxist-Leninist and Maoist ideologies led to armed revolutions, civil wars, and widespread violence in different parts of the world. He added that this form of armed communism reached the Philippines and fueled more than five decades of armed conflict, claiming the lives of thousands of Filipinos, including many young people who were recruited into the movement.
Padilla emphasized that this was not the form of communism he was referring to.
Instead, he said he was speaking about the older concept of collective cooperation and equitable sharing of wealth, which he said could be seen in the practice of Christian Communism among early Christians and in the Mu'akhat system established by the Prophet Muhammad in Medina, where members of the community shared resources and supported one another as an expression of brotherhood.
"My position is against violence and armed struggle. What I am referring to is the spirit of brotherhood, compassion for others, and social justice that had long been practiced by early Christian and Muslim communities," Padilla said.
That only confuses the matter even more. The social justice practiced by Christian and Muslim communities is not Communism. When one calls themself a communist that means they are a Marxist of some kind.
But perhaps the worst thing of all is some Senators are leaving for hours at a time during testimony! Not just a quick bathroom recess but hours!
 |
| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2262817/senator-judges-seen-leaving-session-hall-during-impeachment-trial |
Some senator-judges on Monday were observed leaving the session hall for almost an hour while the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte was ongoing.
Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano was observed leaving the hall at 2:51 p.m., and did not return until 3:48 p.m.
A few minutes later, at 2:53 p.m. Senator-judge Robin Padilla followed, but has yet to return as of 4:19 p.m.
Senator-judges Camille and Mark Villar also exited at around 2:56 p.m. Camille returned at 3:39 p.m., while Mark came back over an hour later at 4:16 p.m.
Meanwhile, Senator-judge Imee Marcos left the session hall twice—once at 3:01 p.m., coming back at 3:18 p.m., then leaving again at 3:20 p.m, before returning at 3:37 p.m.
The Inquirer has asked the offices of the mentioned senator-judges for their sudden and temporary exit, but they have yet to respond, as of writing.
All senator-judges that left the floor temporarily are members of the Senate minority bloc.
However, in a press conference after the conclusion of the 4th day of Duterte’s trial, impeachment court spokesperson Regie Tongol said that senator-judges can freely go in and out of the plenary even while the trial is ongoing.
“The senator judges can go out of the plenary. Meron silang monitor at speaker doon sa Senators’ lounge, so kapag nag-take ng break sila, nag-CR sila, naririnig pa rin nila ang nangyayari sa floor,” said Tongol.
Tongol also explained that even if they go outside the chamber, senator-judges are considered present throughout the proceeding if they were there during the rollcall.
Furthermore, senator-judges can also be late to the trial.
You know what this means? It means they are not taking this trial seriously. It means they have made up their minds and are going to acquit Sara no matter what. This is a complete betrayal of the public trust.
