Vice President Sara Duterte never meant to threaten anyone when she invoked the imagery of a “bloodbath,” her legal team argued Monday, casting the phrase instead as a description of the punishment she believes the impeachment process is inflicting on her.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the fourth day of hearings, defense spokesperson Atty. Michael Poa said the remark had been widely misread. “What she meant was her own blood that would be spilled because she is the subject of this impeachment proceeding, and this was further clarified when she went here (Senate) last week, and said that the bloodbath was herself,” he said, according to Philstar.
Poa pointed to the vice president’s own words from the previous week as confirmation of that reading. During a brief stop at the Senate before the trial’s second day, Duterte told reporters, “In this bloodbath and bludgeoning, I will be bloodied but unbowed” — a line lifted from William Ernest Henley’s poem “Invictus,” known for its refusal to yield under hardship.
The spokesperson framed the controversy as a predictable consequence of loaded language. Manila Bulletin reported that Poa acknowledged the phrase had invited confusion, saying, “I guess it was subject to a lot of misinterpretation which is understandable. But I think the vice president has since clarified it.” He maintained that Duterte anticipates being battered by the proceedings, not that she was signaling harm toward others.
The clarification landed against a backdrop the prosecution has repeatedly raised. House prosecutors have argued that Duterte cannot stage a “bloodbath” through intermediaries or from the margins of the trial, and Malacañang has taken a similar line — Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro noted it was Duterte herself who first called for a “bloodbath,” and said the trial exists to surface the truth.
That original phrasing dates to May 2025, when Duterte said in a media interview, “Sinabihan ko na rin talaga sila (I told my lawyers). I truly want a trial because I want a bloodbath talaga (really).” The comment drew sustained criticism from her political opponents, sharpened by her decision to skip much of the House impeachment activity in both 2025 and 2026.
Poa also rejected the notion that his client had dodged the substance of the charges before the complaints reached the Senate. He said the matter of confidential funds had already been addressed through the Commission on Audit, citing an ongoing audit at the Office of the Vice President and a notice of disallowance the defense continues to answer.
