[OPINION] Duterte impeachment trial Day 4: Plot, not just outburst? Where's the alleged assassin?
On the fourth day of the impeachment trial, the prosecution regained its hold of the narrative with its witness for the day, Atty. Jeremy Lotoc, showing more clarity on the NBI process of investigating the alleged threat of Vice President Sara Duterte against President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta, and former Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Lotoc—the former chief of the NBI cybercrime division, who is now the NBI-BARMM regional director—spoke with authority about the mechanics of the investigation, identified the members of the team, and the circumstances when Duterte allegedly issued what the NBI considered “serious, disturbing” threats, and the agency’s attempt to reach out to the VP for her explanation on the supposed threats.
NBI: Alleged threats 'serious'
Through Lotoc, the NBI considered Duterte‘s alleged threats "serious," enough to charge her with three counts of grave threats and one count of inciting to sedition.
Duterte’s alleged threats elicited strong reactions from the President, Romualdez, the Presidential Communications Office, the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the National Security Council, and that was a good enough signal to investigate her threats.
A lawyer older than the prosecution’s first witness, Mark John Calilung, Lotoc proved himself a better resource person for the prosecution.
Now, the people complaining of the hearing being controlled by lawyers and being too legalistic would find the fourth hearing bearable.
This time around, the prosecution managed to present untrammeled the pieces of evidence, the required documentation, and video recording of a "fuming" Duterte, cursing Marcos, wife, Romualdez, and naming Rep. Joel Chua of Manila, a member of the House prosecution team.
'Toxic' relationship between Duterte and Marcos
The NBI summoned Duterte to shed light on the video, but the latter turned down the invitations twice in a row. According to Lotoc, quoting the Vice President, it was supposedly because the NBI, the investigating body under the Department of Justice, was an "alter ego" of the President. She expected nothing to come out of the NBI investigation.
She has a point, but where does professionalism begin and loyalty to the appointing authority ends was up for the court to settle.
Plot or outburst? Perhaps it was for the impeachment court to settle, but the prosecution managed to show Duterte in her worst moments, at the very least, conduct unbecoming of someone occupying the second-highest official of the land.
One probably cannot control what other people tell you, but one can control how one would react to these.
The prosecution succeeded in showing the VP had lost control, had lost her composure in a number of incidents, as Lotoc pointed out.
Does cursing make the threats serious? Yes, said Lotoc.
“’Wag kang tumigil hangga't hindi mo sila napapatay,” Lotoc quoted Duterte as saying. “It shows persistence. From the point of view of a law enforcement agency like the NBI, it's alarming for us."
When asked what led him to conclude that the VP considered her relationship with the President toxic, Lotoc said: “Ang una, 'yung resignation niya as Secretary ng Department of Education; pangalawa, 'yung utterances niya nung Oct. 18, nung sinabi niya na 'I realized toxic na itong relationship,' 'Gusto kong tanggalin 'yung ulo niya,' and then 'I imagined myself cutting his head.'”
But does that consist culpable violation of the Constitution? We will see.
But the evidence presented was evidence limited to NBI’s appreciation of the video recording, that the NBI was just a fact-finding body, not the Department of Justice, which has prosecutorial powers, and not a trial court to settle the issues, as pointed out by defense counsel Atty. Mark Vinluan. Everything was based on NBI appreciation. Only on NBI’s appreciation.
It was not as if Duterte denied having said all that, what the public had seen and heard on video. She did, and she said so with berserk fury for everybody to see, particularly mouthing “Putang ina,” “King ina.”
Nothing beyond that. No positive identification of an assailant. No arrests.
But Lotoc was firm.
“If we allow anyone to say it, under the guise of freedom of expression,” said Lotoc, “what would prevent anyone from doing or saying it against anyone?”
Was it freedom of expression? Freedom is not absolute.
Senator-judges getting sharper
Here lies the importance of the public to see John Doe, the "assassin" himself.
The NBI failed to establish who the Vice President said wanted to kill her, as pointed out by senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano.
We expect the defense panel to harp and carp on these items further on cross-examination.
Private prosecutor Amando Virgil Ligutan rested his presentation of Lotoc, without identifying the alleged assassin, allowing the senator-judges to pursue it—and feast on him.
Meanwhile, when senator-judges started questioning Lotoc, it revealed what seemed like superficially idiotic mistakes. Why did the NBI make the mistake of saying that Duterte was once a DOJ secretary? And the dates of the subpoena sent to Duterte ahead of her video recording? Too many typos for competent investigators. Sloppy, we must say.
On questioning by senator-judge Bam Aquino, Lotoc said the NBI faced a dead end on who the alleged contracted assassin was.
Cayetano asked: Did the NBI take a serious look at Duterte's allegations that, if anything happened to her, only Marcos, wife, and Romualdez should take the blame? The NBI said it did not. Talk of staring at one thing, looking at another.
According to Lotoc, the NBI said it was investigating high-profile crimes, including threats to the highest officials of the land—from the President to Vice President, Senate President, House Speaker, and the Chief Justice.
But why didn’t the NBI do enough to investigate threats against Duterte? Because she wasn’t cooperative.
It was the longest hearing so far, lasting more than six hours. Vinluan raised several questions about the documents the NBI submitted to the DOJ and the House of Representatives, and would return to the same document’s minutes later. His attention was called a number of times “to save the court’s time.”
In any case, did the Vice President commit any crime? Is there enough basis to charge the VP of a crime? Said Lotoc: “Yes, your Honor.”
All along, this is the reason the prosecution panel chose to start first with the last article of impeachment. To show the Vice President raw, uncouth, unpresidential.
So, how does the NBI solve a problem like Sara? The heat is on.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of PhilSTAR L!fe, its parent company and affiliates, or its staff.
