The demeanor Vice President Sara Duterte displayed while posting bail did not match her stated fears for her life, according to House prosecution panel spokesperson and Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong.
Speaking to dzRH on Sunday, Adiong argued that Duterte appeared combative rather than frightened during Saturday’s court appearance. “Pero if you’re looking at the way, the demeanor and the manner by which she was telling this to her lawyers, hindi yun yung nakikita natin na takot na takot. Palaban pa rin siya. Mas matapang pa nga siya doon kaysa doon sa mga pulis,” he said. He characterized her conduct as the opposite of someone genuinely afraid.
At the heart of Adiong’s criticism was what he saw as a contradiction in the Vice President’s position. “How ironic na the reason why she was there ay para magpiyansa, mag-post bail on an allegation of a grave threat. Accused siya na siya yung nagbabanta,” he told the radio station. He went on to say, “So mukhang ito lang ata yung nakita natin na kung sino pa yung nagbanta, siya pa rin yung biktima.”
Duterte, for her part, told reporters before entering the Quezon City Hall of Justice that she has no confidence in the police and worries about the security of herself and her family. She traced that sense of danger back to 2023, citing harassment she said her family had endured.
Adiong pushed back on that timeline, questioning how someone who claims to have been targeted with threats since 2023 could herself be the person who threatened the President. Behavior like hers, he said, does not signal a person living under threat.
The charges Duterte is answering to arose from an online press conference in November 2023. During that event, she stated she had arranged with an unnamed individual to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez killed should she herself be assassinated. She put up P360,000 in bail across three counts of grave threats before the Quezon City court, a day after a warrant was issued for her arrest.
Even as he disputed her account, Adiong maintained that any threats she says she has received warrant a proper inquiry. That position echoes the response from the Philippine National Police, whose chief, PGen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr., said the force is tracking and evaluating the circumstances to keep the Vice President safe—this despite the PNP stating Saturday that no reports of threats against Duterte or her family had reached them.
