A National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) cybercrime investigator on Tuesday authenticated official statements and recordings showing that government security agencies treated Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s Nov. 23, 2024 remarks as a serious security matter, placing them into evidence before the Senate impeachment court.
NBI Senior Agent John Mark Calilung testified that he authenticated video recordings of Duterte’s online media briefing, in which she said she had contracted someone to kill President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos and then-Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez if she herself were killed.
The prosecution cited the statement as the basis for the impeachment allegations of grave threats and inciting to sedition.
Calilung also authenticated official statements issued by the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the National Security Council (NSC) and other government agencies in response to Duterte’s remarks.
He told the impeachment court that he personally captured screenshots of the AFP’s official website, the PNP’s official Facebook page and the NSC statement posted on the Presidential Communications Office website using his laptop.
Calilung testified that he preserved electronic copies of the screenshots, printed them and submitted them to the House Committee on Justice.
Shown the exhibits in court, Calilung identified the printouts and said they accurately reflected the original screenshots.
“I compared the screenshot with the printouts and the webpage and found that the contents are identical, sir,” Calilung said during direct examination by lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan, counsel for House prosecutors.
The prosecution also played authenticated video statements issued by President Marcos and Romualdez following Duterte’s remarks.
In his recorded statement, Marcos described Duterte’s remarks as alarming, condemned what he characterized as threats against the country’s highest officials, and said such a criminal attempt should not be tolerated.
The Chief Executive also stressed that the government had a constitutional duty to uphold the rule of law.
The court also viewed Romualdez’s recorded statement, in which he said Duterte had admitted to contacting an assassin to kill him, the President and the First Lady.
The former Speaker described the remarks as a direct threat to democracy, the government and national security.
Calilung further testified that after authenticating the videos and collecting the official statements of government agencies, the NBI continued its investigation by issuing subpoenas to individuals who attended Duterte’s Nov. 23, 2024 online media briefing.
He said investigators later interviewed some of those present to verify what transpired during the briefing.
Calilung’s testimony formed part of the House prosecution’s presentation of evidence on the fourth Article of Impeachment, which accuses Duterte of making grave threats against President Marcos, the First Lady and then-Speaker Romualdez.
Through Calilung’s testimony, the prosecution sought to establish not only the authenticity of Duterte’s recorded statements but also that the country’s principal law enforcement, military and national security institutions officially responded to the remarks, placing those responses into the evidentiary record before the Senate impeachment court.
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