Vice President Sara Duterte launched a fierce counter-attack on Tuesday, dismissing the ongoing impeachment trial against her as a baseless spectacle built entirely on falsehoods.
Her statements followed the fourth day of the Senate proceedings, which featured grueling cross-examination of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc over the agency’s investigative findings.
Duterte aggressively challenged the prosecution’s heavy reliance on Lotoc’s testimony, characterizing the NBI’s case as completely fragile. She asserted that the administration’s legal crusade against her is driven by political desperation rather than actual law.
“Repeatedly claiming that there were threats when none existed, inventing an assassin where there was none, and fabricating evidence to support those claims does not transform fiction into fact,” Duterte stated.
The Vice President further argued that the prosecution’s methods are actively damaging the very government bodies meant to protect justice.
“Instead, such actions undermine the integrity of public institutions, erode public trust, waste public resources, and corrupt the search for truth,” she added.
Duterte’s legal defense stands firm: she maintains that the NBI severely misconstrued her November 2024 press conference when it concluded there was prima facie evidence to charge her with inciting to sedition and grave threats.
According to the Vice President, her controversial remarks were defensive reactions to a perceived plot against her family’s safety, not an unprovoked threat directed at the First Family.
With the Senate court continuing to scrutinize her public statements, Duterte insisted on a stricter standard of evidence, cautioning the public and the lawmakers against relying on guesswork.
“An impeachment proceeding should be grounded in credible evidence, not speculation, manufactured narratives, or unsupported allegations. The rule of law depends on facts, not fiction,” Duterte declared.