Sherwin Tinampay

Article (news)

#VPOnTrial: Day 9

Victoria Tulad

ABS-CBN News

<div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V-ELTBw9uOM?autoplay=1&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></div>Today is the ninth day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte still on the article 4 of the Articles of Impeachment.The vice president&#x27;s defense team is expected to continue the cross-examination of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag.<div> </div>4:41 p.m. - The Senate impeachment trial court is adjourned and will resume on Wednesday, July 29, 10 a.m.4:39 p.m. - The impeachment clerk of court is directed to issue subpoenas to Violeta Constantino and Nenita Camposano who are former branch managers of Landbank for the resumption of the trial on July 29, 2026, 10 a.m. 4:37 p.m. - Matibag is allowed to leave and Escudero thanks him for his cooperation.4:28 p.m. - Matibag says there is a different requirement for impeachment - there is no need to present the actual assassin, what is important is the supposed admission of the Vice President that she contracted someone and that person agreed.4:26 p.m. - Senator-judge Imee Marcos asks Matibag if he is implying that there is a conspiracy between the Vice President and his brother Mayor Duterte to have the President killed. Matibag says they are looking into this.3:59 p.m. - On a scale of 1 to 10, Matibag says there is a 6 to 7 probability that they will be able to identify who was supposedly contracted by the Vice President to do the killings.3:58 p.m. - Matibag says there is a person of interest within the Vice President Security Group.<div>Sa aming na-narrow down there are men in uniform who is in active service.</div>3:57 p.m. - Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo asks why majority senators are only given two minutes for their interventions while minority judges are given five to 10 minutes. Escudero says there is no minority or majority in the impeachment court and that he reminded Padilla to wind up already.3:47 p.m. - Luistro says they were able to verify that there are no pending cases against their witnesses, adds that conviction is not a ground for disqualification unless it is final and unless punishable by more than one year and that the crime constitutes moral turpitude. 3:45 p.m. - Senator-judge Robinhood Padilla points out that Lascañas had differing statements in previous instances. He asks the prosecution to avoid presenting witnesses with cases of perjury like NBI Regional director Jeremy Lotoc and senior agent John Mark Calilung. He then noted that the accused was voted by 32 million Filipinos. 3:36 p.m. - Senator-judge Joel Villanueva asks Matibag if the NBI is focused on determining the identity of the alleged contracted person rather than confirming if there is one. Matibag answers in the affirmative. Matibag: Nagsimula po kami sa maraming pangalan... we are narrowing it down already to less than 20 individuals at may mga pangalan na po kami nito. Sa katunayan po, yung iba po rito kausap na po namin yung kanilang mga pamilya o kakilala. That&#x27;s why sinabi ko baka in three to six months we can finally identify kung sino yung personalidad na iyon.3:31 p.m. - Tulfo gives a hypothetical scenario, asks Matibag if he thinks former Vice President Leni Robredo would be arrested if she made a threat against former President Duterte. Matibag says it is possible that Robredo would have been immediately arrested.3:29 p.m. - Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo asks about the cases of other Filipinos who were arrested after offering money to those who would kill former President Rodrigo Duterte. Tulfo: Kamay na bakal ang pinairal kapag mga ordinaryong, mahirap na mamamayan ang pinapairal ninyo diyan sa law enforcement. Pero kapag makapangyarihang mga tao, you treat them with kids&#x27; gloves. Why is that?Matibag says he cannot speak about the law enforcement&#x27;s behavior that time, but agrees that the arrests were warrantless arrests which was why the cases were dismissed.3:22 p.m. - Senator-judge and presiding officer Francis Escudero says the Lascañas affidavit was not offered as an authentic document executed by the affiant, but was only part of the documents Matibag used in their open source investigation.3:19 p.m. - House lead prosecutor Rep. Gerville Luistro says they find it uneccessary to conduct a redirect examination.3:19 p.m. - Senator-judge Panfilo Lacson asks Matibag why the case of Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte is still on the level of law enforcement investigation when the NBI not only investigated the supposed threat of Vice President Duterte but also referred a complaint to the Department of Justice. Matibag says they are still developing the case of the mayor because they are developing it under conspiracy which is harder and needs time to develop. 3:12 p.m. - Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo asks Matibag about the persons of interest regarding the alleged contracted individual. Matibag cannot give information regarding the POIs, but says they were able to trim down these people which came from the sphere of the Vice President. 3:05 p.m. - A part of Duterte&#x27;s Oct. 18, 2024 press conference is shown where she said she imagined herself cutting the head of the President. Vinluan asks Matibag if Duterte did not say her statement in jest. According to Matibag, he cannot go into the state of mind of the Vice President. Asked if the NBI did not take Duterte&#x27;s statement out of context, Matibag says it is difficult to disregard statements like these. He also mentions that those who say bomb jokes are even arrested. 3 p.m. - Vinluan tells Matibag information regarding the July 1, 2011 video where then Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte could be seen hitting a court sheriff. Vinluan says Duterte asked the sheriff for a two-hour extension before implementing a demolition order to help informal sectors who were victims of a flash flood.2:53 p.m. - Matibag explains that they were not able to subpoena self-confessed Davao Death Squad member Arturo Lascañas because he is nowhere to be found. He adds that they did not immediately believe his affidavit and examined it using five factors after which they were able to determine that it is believable. 2:47 p.m. - Vinluan asks Matibag about a news article saying that Malacañang did not receive destabilization efforts against President Marcos, Jr. According to Matibag, the entire context should be scrutinized because different things are discussed under the security cluster. 2:43 p.m. - Vinluan asks Matibag if Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte directly urged people to overthrow the government during the April 2026 RAGE Coalition rally. Matibag says it was not a destabilization but a threat to the safety of the President and to the national security.2:32 p.m. - Asked if the NBI will comply if ever the impeachment court issues a subpoena for the leads it has regarding the alleged contracted person, Matibag says they will study the subpoena and let the court know. Vinluan: Don’t you believe that ang katotohanan ay hindi confidential?Matibag: Meron po tayong proseso na sinusunod. Kung ito man ay totoo at ito ay magva-violate po sa batas baka hindi po yata natin dapat itong gawin.2:27 p.m. - Vinluan asks Matibag if they will file another impeachment complaint once they reach their findings. The NBI chief says they don&#x27;t need to investigate the betrayal of public trust even if they are able to pinpoint the alleged person contracted. This, according to Matibag, is because the betrayal has already been consummated when the Vice President admitted that she allegedly contracted a killer and that that person agreed. 2:21 p.m. - Matibag says a crime is committed only when the plan to kill is executed. But he qualifies that one of the mandates of the National Bureau of Investigation is to protect national security. He adds that there is a continuing threat to the President and it is the NBI&#x27;s duty to protect the President.2:13 p.m. - Vinluan asks Matibag if the NBI ever subpoenaed Duterte under his leadership. Matibag says they never subpoenaed her because every time she was subpoenaed in a lot of proceedings she never attended. 2:10 p.m. - Atty. Mark Vinluan, counsel for the respondent, asks Matibag if a special task force was created to investigate the alleged threats to the life of Vice President. Matibag says there was none. 2:04 p.m. - National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag takes the witness stand for the continuation of the counsel for the respondent&#x27;s cross examination.2:02 p.m. - 17 senators are present.2:01 p.m. - The Senate impeachment court begins the trial of the vice president.<div> </div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/21/live-updates-vice-president-sara-duterte-s-impeachment-trial-day-8-1308">LIVE UPDATES: Vice President Sara Duterte&#x27;s Impeachment Trial (Day 8)</a></div>

Follow this article for the ninth day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte

Follow this article for the ninth day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte

LIVE UPDATES: Vice President Sara Duterte's Impeachment Trial (Day 9)

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LIVE UPDATES: Vice President Sara Duterte's Impeachment Trial (Day 9)

Victoria Tulad,

Sherwin Tinampay,

ABS-CBN News

Published July 22, 2026 01:55 PM PHT

|

Updated July 22, 2026 04:43 PM PHT

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Vice President

Sara Duterte

Vice President Sara Duterte

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Impeachment Trial

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