The Article IV grave-threats charge

Positions

Developments

1. July 6, 2026·Impeachment Trial - Day 1Context

   The prosecution previewed Article IV on Day 1 and the impeachment court ordered subpoenas for NBI witnesses expected to address the recorded-statement evidence.

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2. July 7, 2026·Impeachment Trial - Day 2Supports this claim

   On Day 2, prosecutors played the November 2024 video in court and presented NBI Senior Agent John Mark Calilung on video preservation and authentication, while the defense preserved objections.

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3. July 8, 2026·Impeachment Trial - Day 3Contradicts this claim

   On Day 3 the defense concluded cross-examination of NBI Sr. Agent Calilung by attacking the investigation's foundation: the alleged offended parties (President Marcos, the First Lady, former Speaker Romualdez) neither appeared before the NBI nor filed complaints and were not included as complainants; the witness disclaimed personal knowledge of the alleged threat and alleged hired assassin; and a February 5, 2025 DOJ certification had returned the NBI's first affidavit as deficient on seven grounds before a revised February 10 affidavit was accepted. No court has yet convicted the Vice President for grave threats or inciting to sedition.

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4. July 13, 2026·Impeachment Trial - Day 4Supports this claim

   An NBI investigator testified that the bureau opened an investigation on November 23, 2024, subpoenaed media attendees and the Vice President — who sent her lawyer instead of appearing — and in a February 10, 2025 affidavit recommended three counts of grave threats and one count of inciting to sedition, concluding her statements were not protected speech under the dangerous tendency rule. Defense counsel countered by citing date discrepancies on the DOJ received stamps, an unsigned minutes-of-meeting document, a February 5, 2025 DOJ certification finding the complaint insufficient for preliminary investigation, and the witness's confirmation that the NBI is not the offended party, while placing on record a specific denial that the Vice President spoke to a hitman; the witness responded that a second DOJ certification dated February 14, 2025 found the referral sufficient. Senator-judges pressed both sides: Senator-Judge Cayetano stated the Vice President never used the words 'assassin' or 'contracted' and asserted the NBI affidavit calls the threat 'conditional' while agents testified it was 'absolute,' another senator-judge flagged a November 6 subpoena date predating the statements, which the witness called a typographical error, and Senator-Judge Tulfo raised the defense's 'Operation Romanov' threat theory, which defense counsel said will form part of its evidence in chief.

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5. July 14, 2026·Impeachment Trial - Day 5Supports this claim

   A prosecution witness recounted the video in which the Vice President stated she had instructed someone to kill the President, the First Lady, and former Speaker Martin Romualdez if she herself were killed. The witness testified that the statements were made publicly and heard by the President, and that, based on the President's own statement, the President took the utterances as serious and real.

6. July 15, 2026·Impeachment Trial - Day 6 (oral arguments)Supports this claim

   The prosecution stated that the government conducted a full-scale investigation into the alleged threat and recommended filing a criminal complaint, and that press members Mikael Flores and Bones Magsambol, present at the November 23 video conference, would have testified they heard the respondent utter a threat against the President, the First Lady, and the former Speaker. It asserted that Agent Calilung's testimony established the authenticity of the video, that the defense subsequently admitted the videos are authentic, and that the respondent later confirmed the statements she made in it. The prosecution also cited Atty. Lotoc's testimony that threat is a private crime whose prosecution does not depend on the complaint, participation, or feelings of the victim or the victim's family. It added that Sheriff Abe Andres was intended to testify about a 2011 incident of alleged violence by the respondent against the sheriff, an occurrence both parties had acknowledged.

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7. July 21, 2026·Impeachment Trial - Day 8Supports this claim

   The witness testified that the Vice President's own statement constituted a public confession that she had contacted someone who agreed to carry out the killing of President Bongbong Marcos, Liza Marcos Araneta, and Martin Romualdez, characterizing this as a plan rather than a threat and stating that it jeopardized both the President's security and national security. The witness said they were '100% certain,' based on that statement, that the Vice President had spoken with someone to carry out the killings, that the act of contracting a killing was already established, and that the only element not yet identified was who had been contacted. The witness also identified timestamps in the video exhibit where the Vice President said 'I want to cut off his head' (135.57–136.10) and 'I imagine myself cutting his head' (136.52–137.50, later corrected to 136.58).

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8. July 22, 2026·Impeachment Trial - Day 9Supports this claim

   The witness testified that the October 2024 press conference and a video, marked as Exhibit D-4-53 — the source of the finding that then-Vice President Sara Duterte spoke of cutting off someone's head — were among the materials used to establish an alleged pattern of violence. He testified her statement was weighed as one of multiple factors in establishing that pattern, not as a standalone grave and serious threat, and that she had publicly stated she did not need the DDS to do what the DDS could do.

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