Marilyn Cahatol

The defense and House prosecution panels cross-examine Atty. Jeremy Lotoc, Regional Director of the National Bureau of Investigation–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (NBI-BARMM) and former chief of the NBI Cybercrime Division, as he takes the stand during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte at the Senate in Pasay City on Monday, July 13, 2026. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

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VP Sara Impeachment

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/178401406697320260713-senate-vp-sara-impeachment-day4-vinluan-MT13.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false" style="text-align:left">The defense and House prosecution panels cross-examine Atty. Jeremy Lotoc, Regional Director of the National Bureau of Investigation–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (NBI-BARMM) and former chief of the NBI Cybercrime Division, as he takes the stand during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte at the Senate in Pasay City on Monday, July 13, 2026. <em>Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News </em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte on the fifth day of the impeachment trial presented more snippets from the Nov. 23, 2024 video where she uttered the alleged grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. </p><p>Defense counsel Mark Vinluan, in his cross-examination of National Bureau of Investigation Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc, pressed the witness other statements that Duterte made.</p><p>Lotoc headed the NBI&#x27;s Cybercrime Division in 2024 when Duterte issued the alleged grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos and former House speaker Martin Romualdez. </p><p>Vinluan first showed a clip of Duterte mentioning a supposed threat to her life inside the Batasang Pambansa, where she streamed the online press conference from.</p><p>Duterte, in the video, said: “Sasabihin pa nila sa akin na there is threat to my life inside the Batasang Pambansa (And then they will say there is a threat to my life inside the Batasang Pambansa)? Why is there a threat to my life?”</p><p>The defense also showed a clip of Duterte’s statement addressed to Marcos, alleging that Romualdez was engaged in activities outside the mandate of a House member.</p><p>“Anong trabaho ng legislative branch, gumawa ng batas. Anong ginagawa ni Martin Romualdez? Nagdi-direct ng DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development), namimigay ng ayuda, nagsasabi kung anong ibibigay, anong gagawin.”</p><p>(What is the mandate of the legislative branch? Make laws. What is Martin Romualdez doing? He is directing the DSWD, giving out aid, deciding what to give, and what will be done.)</p><p>&quot;Ayuda&quot; is a general term for financial aid from agencies like the DSWD, which has the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations and Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program.</p><p>Lawmakers sometimes attend aid distribution events in their districts. </p><p>Vinluan asked Lotoc if he could confirm that “Martin Romualdez goes around the country distributing money,” a question that the prosecution objected to.</p><p>Presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero sustained the objection, saying the witness is incompetent to answer the question.</p><p>The defense also played a clip of Duterte alleging that Romualdez was “buying, kidnapping and harassing” his opponents in Tacloban and that “no senator, vice president, or president will vote for him.”</p><p>Duterte alleged that Romualdez is a thief and that his office&#x27;s expenditures do not undergo audit. </p><p>She also said that nobody audits the Office of the President&#x27;s use of its confidential page.</p><p>“Kriminal ang speaker… Sinungaling ang presidente,” she added.</p><p>(The speaker is a criminal... the president is a liar.)  </p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/14/zuleika-lopez-set-to-take-witness-stand-at-senate-trial-1338">Duterte chief aide Zuleika Lopez set to take witness stand at Senate impeachment trial</a></div><p>The defense again asked Lotoc if he knows whether the allegations are true and whether the NBI investigated them.</p><p>Lotoc said that his former unit is focused on cybercrime.</p><p>The last video the defense presented was a longer cut of Duterte uttering the alleged threats.</p><p>The defense again asked Lotoc if he could confirm the factuality of Duterte’s utterances. Lotoc confirmed the utterances were made by the vice president but said he cannot comment on whether or not the allegations were true.</p><p>&quot;Based on our investigation, as to the existence of the utterances, yeah, dahil may mga pieces of evidence kami. But whether or not nangyari iyan, wala ho akong personal knowledge, sir,&quot; Lotoc said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RIDON: CROSS-EXAMINATION FAILED TO DIMINISH ‘GRAVE THREAT’ ALLEGATION</strong></div><p>In a statement, House impeachment prosecutor Terry Ridon said the cross-examination of Lotoc failed to “diminish” the allegation that Duterte committed “grave threats” against Marcos.</p><p>“May mensahe po tayo depensa: ‘yan na ba ‘yong best niyo? Parang galingan niyo pa nang kaunti kasi even if they had raised document discrepancies on cross, it did not diminish the threat itself, hindi po ba?” he said.</p><p>“Kahit pag-usapan natin araw-araw kung ano ba ‘yong pagkakaiba ng docket number no’ng Department of Justice documents, hindi nagbabago ‘yong fact na mayroong nagbanta, mayroong pagbabanta, at mayroon pong pinagbantaan,” he added.</p><p>The defense on Monday pointed out an alleged “<a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/13/defense-questions-converted-received-date-on-nbi-s-investigation-data-form-on-duterte-2204">discrepancy</a>” in the docket number on the NBI’s investigation data form and the DOJ certification, which Lotoc said should be addressed to the DOJ instead.</p><p>Duterte’s team also questioned the supposed “converted” received date on the NBI’s investigation data form. <strong>— With a report from Vivienne Gulla, ABS-CBN News</strong></p><div><br/></div><div><strong>WATCH</strong></div><div style="text-align:center"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iVlGJrfvFXM?si=k55updWKjiniBjyN" title="YouTube video player" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" spellcheck="false"></iframe></div><div style="text-align:center"><br/></div>

<p>The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte presented more snippets from the Nov. 23, 2024 video, where she uttered the “grave threats” against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during the fifth day of the impeachment trial.</p>

The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte presented more snippets from the Nov. 23, 2024 video, where she uttered the “grave threats” against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during the fifth day of the impeachment trial.

Defense plays more clips from 2024 Duterte video in Lotoc cross-examination

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Defense plays more clips from 2024 Duterte video in Lotoc cross-examination

Marilyn Cahatol,

ABS-CBN News

Published July 14, 2026 03:59 PM PHT

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Updated July 14, 2026 04:31 PM PHT

Read More:

Sara Duterte

impeachment trial

Jeremy Lotoc

National Bureau of Investigation

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