NBI Chief: Killing Marcos Not Just A Threat, But A Plan

National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag testified before the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday, July 21, that Vice President Sara Duterte’s statements about killing President Marcos were not just a threat but a “plan.”

Matibag stressed that Duterte’s utterances during an online press conference in November 2024 were not just a “threat” but a “confession” to kill the President, First Lady Liza Marcos and former House speaker Martin Romualdez.

The NBI director added that it was “a threat to national security.”

In his testimony, Matibag confirmed that the NBI conducted a “continuing, active and open investigation” after Duterte said she had allegedly contracted an assassin to execute the plan if she herself would be killed.

Asked during the prosecution’s direct examination on the identity of the alleged assassin, Matibag said while the NBI has “persons of interest,” he could not reveal the names so as not to compromise the investigation.

Presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero allowed the House prosecution’s move for Matibag to read a copy of the affidavit of former police officer and self-confessed Duterte Death Squad hitman Arturo Lascañas.

Matibag read portions of the Lascañas affidavit mentioning an incident when the Vice President, then Davao city mayor, allegedly ordered then police general Sen. Ronald dela Rosa and another police hitman Sonny Buenaventura regarding the “kidnapping” of alleged drug suspects in the city and dumping them in a quarry so they would only be branded as “missing.”

Matibag said the affidavit was part of the NBI’s “open source intelligence” in its active investigation on the Vice President’s alleged plot to kill the President.

Defense lawyer Mark Vinluan opposed the reading of the affidavit and its marking as evidence, describing it as a “mere scrap of paper” that cannot be verified and which serves to “prejudice” the Vice President and “mislead” the public and the senator-judges.

Vinulan called it “highly improper” that Matibag is allowed to read the affidavit and “give credence” to Lascañas’ allegations, now subject of an International Criminal Court (ICC) trial for crimes against humanity against former president Rodrigo Duterte.

Upon the mention of Dela Rosa, in hiding due to an active ICC arrest warrant, Escudero reminded his colleagues that the “mention of the statements allegedly made by then general now Sen. Dela Rosa are clearly hearsay even on the part of Lascañas himself.”

Vinluan noted that the affidavit did not bear the signature of Lascañas.

“He (Matibag) is not the author of this affidavit,” said Vinluan.

Marcos head

“The threat is serious, active and continuing,” said Matibag, who did not state how many persons of interest had been identified.

One of the circumstances the NBI factored in when it made the assessment, Matibag said, is a remark of the Vice President’s brother, Davao City acting mayor Sebastian Duterte, during a protest rally on April 12 this year, a video of which was played before the court.

In the video, the younger Duterte was quoted as saying, “We only need one head – that of BBM (Bongbong Marcos).”

Matibag pointed out that the live broadcast of the rally was heard by nearly 700,000 people. — With Bella Cariaso, Daphne Galvez