Establishing that Vice President Sara Duterte actually contracted a hitman is not a legal prerequisite to proving she committed grave threats, a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) official testified on Monday during the ongoing Senate impeachment trial.
Taking the witness stand on the fourth day of the trial, NBI Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc—representing the House prosecution panel—responded to questioning from Senator Risa Hontiveros regarding the criminal nature of the Vice President’s controversial remarks.
“Insofar as the crime of grave threats is concerned, hindi yun kailangan,” Lotoc replied.
When Hontiveros inquired about the boundaries of constitutionally protected speech, Lotoc, the former head of the NBI Cybercrime Division, explained that investigators utilized the “dangerous tendency rule.”
Under this legal doctrine, speech loses its constitutional immunity if it tends to provoke illegal activities or disrupt public peace, potentially elevating the remarks to criminal acts like grave threats or inciting to sedition.
Hontiveros also questioned whether Duterte’s comments could be dismissed as a mere emotional outburst driven by the heat of the moment.
“No… Hindi magma-matter sa findings namin,” Lotoc said.
Lotoc emphasized that the NBI’s investigation centered strictly on the statutory components of grave threats: whether a person threatened to harm an individual or their family, and whether that threatened action was inherently criminal. He added that, depending on the case, investigators also look into whether the threat carried specific demands or conditions.
The official’s testimony serves to bolster Article IV of the impeachment complaint, which charges Duterte with grave threats, inciting to sedition, and allegedly conspiring to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.