A former ranking cybercrime investigator told the Senate impeachment court on Monday that government prosecutors have built what he described as an unassailable case against Vice President Sara Duterte, pointing to what he called clear evidence of her intent to make good on a threat against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Jeremy Lotoc, who previously headed the National Bureau of Investigation’s Cybercrime Division, took the stand as the second witness called by House prosecutors on the fourth day of proceedings, which fell within the trial’s second week. He testified that investigators had pinned down both the motive and the intent behind Duterte’s remarks.
At the center of his account was a livestreamed briefing on November 23, 2024, in which Duterte declared that she had already contracted someone to kill the President, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez should she herself be killed. Lotoc said the bureau holds primary authority under the law to look into security threats aimed at the country’s top officials, a category he said covers the President, Vice President, Senate President, House Speaker, and Chief Justice.
Lotoc argued that the animosity between Marcos and Duterte was well documented. “What we have established is the fact that the relationship between the two was very hostile,” he said. He went further on the legal threshold, telling the court, “The piece of evidence that we attached or we incorporated in our investigation is sufficient and has satisfied the requirements of the quantum of evidence required which is prima facie evidence with reasonable certainty of conviction.”
According to Lotoc, Duterte’s hostility toward the President predated the November briefing. He introduced footage from an October 18, 2024 livestream in which she spoke of wanting to behead Marcos. “Gusto kong tanggalin ang ulo niya (I wanted to remove his head). I realized toxic na itong relationship. I imagine myself cutting his head,” she said in the clip.
Pressed by private prosecutor Virgil Ligutan on why he judged the threat to be genuine, Lotoc pointed to her demeanor. “She was furious and fuming mad. I think if I’m not mistaken, she cursed eight times,” he said. He warned the remarks carried real danger, telling the court that “The President took the threat of the Vice President as real,” and that outside groups “might take advantage” of her words to attack Marcos and shift blame onto her.
Under questioning from Senator-Judge Bam Aquino, however, Lotoc conceded a gap in the bureau’s findings. Investigators had spoken with people who had firsthand knowledge of the alleged threat but could not confirm that Duterte had actually reached out to or directed anyone to harm the President, the First Lady, or Romualdez. Aquino also observed that the Vice President’s side did not appear to have rejected the accusations outright, a characterization defense lawyer Mark Vinluan pushed back on, saying the denial had been made and would be developed when the defense presents its case.
Lotoc drew a line between constitutional protections and the statements at issue, saying free expression does not shield threats directed at the nation’s highest leaders. Such remarks, he added, carry the “tendency to stir up the people against the government” and to “undermine peace and order.” He also disclosed that the bureau attempted to examine the supposed plot against Duterte and her family but got no cooperation from her, noting she twice ignored invitations to supply details about the claim.
A separate line of inquiry came from Senator-Judge Raffy Tulfo, who challenged the defense to explain the so-called “Operation Romanov,” described as a scheme to assassinate Duterte, and to name the proof and witnesses backing it. Tulfo asked whether this matched the operation previously raised by online personality Princess Maui at a press conference Duterte had hosted, and whether the defense planned to put the vlogger or anyone else on the stand to substantiate it. Vinluan sidestepped, saying the roster of defense witnesses stays confidential and could shift depending on how the prosecution lays out its evidence, and that names would surface only when the court’s rules called for it.
Ahead of the day’s session, House prosecution spokesman Robert Ace Barbers framed Lotoc’s appearance as bearing on the constitutional test for removal rather than any criminal penalty. “Because the fundamental question is this: Are you still fit to serve and remain in office as vice president after we have seen the evidence that has been presented?” Barbers said. On the defense side, spokesman Michael Wesley Poa said any decision to cross-examine Office of the Vice President Chief of Staff Zuleika Lopez, expected to testify during the week, would hinge on what she says under direct questioning. “We will first review the prosecution’s presentation to determine whether there are matters we need to bring out or points that need to be clarified. If there are, then we will proceed with the cross-examination,” Poa said.
The proceedings also produced two procedural developments. Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said every document, pleading, and piece of evidence tied to the trial would be posted on the chamber’s official website, a step he cast as a way for citizens to review the records themselves instead of leaning on what spreads through social media. “We invite the public to scrutinize, read, and understand the proceedings for themselves,” he said. Separately, Senator-Judge Alan Peter Cayetano objected when NBI Director Melvin Matibag sought to move up his scheduled testimony. In a July 10 letter, Matibag had asked to appear earlier, citing a two-day conference in Thailand the following week alongside FBI and Royal Thai Police representatives. Cayetano countered that senator-judges had themselves shelved foreign and domestic commitments to sit through the trial. “I find it in bad taste that a bureau head will dictate to us that he’s not available next week,” Cayetano said.
