Will Vice President Sara Duterte show up at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Wednesday, Dec. 11, to explain her statement that she had talked to a person to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she were to be killed?
The NBI issued a second summons last week to the vice president after she skipped her initial scheduled appearance on Nov. 29 in a preliminary investigation. Duterte asked for a reschedule, saying she wanted to prioritize attending a hearing of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability to support members of her executive staff. The House committee decided to cancel its hearing to enable the vice president to go to the NBI, but she did not appear.
For the second NBI setting of her appearance, the vice president sent an invitation for a “yearend thanksgiving lunch” to members of the media at 11 a.m. Did she think that her NBI appearance at 10 a.m. would be quick and she could still make it to the lunch party? Or is it yet another excuse to avoid going to the NBI?
She is supposed to be at the office of NBI Director Jaime Santiago at 10 a.m. at the Filinvest Cyberzone Bay City in Pasay, according to the summons, “to give your evidence in a certain investigation to be held at that time and place.”
Duterte has repeatedly said in media interviews that her statement against the president, the first lady and the House speaker was a “conditional threat” that has been “taken out of its logical context” and something that is “not actionable.” She said it was premised on the fact that she would have to die first before the Marcos couple and Romualdez could be killed.
The vice president also claimed that it was meant to highlight the threat against her. However, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Dec. 2 that it had not received any “credible threat” to the life of the vice president.
In a press conference in Zamboanga City on Nov. 27, Duterte asserted: “Very serious ito. This is not ano, parang lalo-laro lang para sa kanila. Seryoso sila sa gusto nilang gawin at alam natin ang capacity ng isang Marcos.”
In the same presscon, she was asked if she had reported it to law enforcement authorities. She replied: “Nakakahiya sa buong mundo na ang PNP natin, [which], by the way, has intelligence funds, hindi alam ang mga pangyayari sa ating bansa. Nakakahiya na meron tayong pulis na hindi alam ang threats sa vice president. ‘Wag sila magsalita ng ganyan kasi nagpapakita ‘yan ng incompetence ng PNP.”
Interviewed during a break in the House probe on the questionable spending of the Office of the Vice President on Nov. 25, Duterte said she had complained before the media about the threat, but “they dismissed it.” However, she claimed that “everything is well documented with documents and videos.”
Reports said Duterte explained last June that the “scar” on her neck, which caught the attention of the public and went viral on social media, was due to an alleged attempt to “gurgur” or attack her, but they did not succeed. She did not provide other details but pro-Duterte vloggers have said the culprit was supposedly a member of her security detail.
The National Security Council recently said it is “closely coordinating” with law enforcement agencies to look into the threat against the first couple and the House speaker but said nothing about the threat against the vice president.
During a Zoom conference with reporters and pro-Duterte vloggers on the evening of Nov. 22 while she was at the office of her brother, Rep. Paulo Duterte, the vice president identified the mastermind of her supposed assassination.
“Isa lang naman ang gusto pumatay sa akin, si Martin Romualdez, and I don’t think gagawin niya ‘yan dito sa loob ng House of Representatives. Gagawin niya ‘yan doon sa labas,” she said, narrating her conversation earlier in the night with the House secretary general, who was then asking her to leave her brother’s office because the electricity supply would have to be turned off to avoid overheating of the air conditioning unit.
Asked why Romualdez would want her dead, she said: “Because I know him… from the short time na nagkasama kami. I’m a good judge of character. Mabilis ako mag-assess ng isang tao. Nagkasama kasi sa kampanya. I am no psychologist but that man has so much baggage and insecurities sa buhay niya.”
Did the PNP, the NBI and other law enforcement agencies bother to look into the vice president’s allegation against Romualdez so she would have no reason to say that they were treating her unfairly?
However, when Duterte was asked how she came to know about the threat, she said two persons told her to take care of herself, while a third one asked her during her Nov. 22 Zoom conference about Oplan Romanov, referring to the Russian imperial family slaughtered in 1918 by Bolshevik revolutionaries.
If she were the president, the Armed Forces chief or the defense secretary, Duterte said she would not just dismiss such threats. “Dapat d’yan … let’s sit down and investigate the alleged threats so that we will know if these are true or not. ‘Yan ang sagot dapat ng tamang tao na tama mag-isip. Hindi ‘yung sinasabi na wala kaming alam … na walang threats.”
With the nauseating statements she has been saying, should the vice president be taken seriously? Were the threats to her life real? What evidence does she have to prove that Romualdez wanted her killed? Until when will this drama drag on?
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.
This column also appeared in The Manila Times.
