Defense team on Sara Duterte's kill remark: Unconventional but justified

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense team on Wednesday maintained that her alleged hiring of an individual to assassinate President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., First Lady Lisa Araneta – Marcos, and former Speaker Martin Romualdez was merely an “unconventional” but “justified” response to genuine threats against her and her family.

This statement, delivered by one of Duterte’s lawyers Mark Vinluan, was an answer to the question posed by senator-judge Risa Hontiveros to the prosecution panel during Tuesday’s proceedings where she specifically asked how Duterte’s statement on hiring an assassin was impeachable given it is not proof that the vice president actually contracted one.

READ: LIVE UPDATES: Impeachment trial of VP Sara Duterte | July 8, 2026

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According to Vinluan, Hontiveros’ inquiry was “absolutely right,” stating that the defense lawyer’s response to the senator-judge even conceded the same point, having admitted that its evidence does not fully establish that claim.

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“The prosecution admitted that the video does not prove any fact other than its existence. In simple words, there is no proof of any contracting of an assassin,” Vinluan said.

“…trying to prove this stretched narrative using a hodgepodge of materials is a waste of this honorable court’s time and the Filipino people’s money,” he said.

Vinluan then proceeded to argue that Duterte’s pronouncement was not a kill plot but a response to genuine threats against her and her family.

“Si VP Sara na mismo ang nagsabi na hindi assassin ang kinausap niya (it was Vice President Sara herself who said that she did not talk to an assassin). This term only came from people who took her statements out of their proper context and tried to exaggerate them for what they really meant,” said Vinluan.

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“The truth of the matter is this. She and her family were threatened and while her response was unconventional, it was justified,” he added.

Vinluan further explained that Duterte’s kill plot pronouncement was actually a response to a question involving ‘Operation Romanov’, which is an alleged plot to eliminate the Duterte family.

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It should be noted, however, that the individual who asked Duterte about “Operation Romanov” was not a journalist or an employed media professional, but a vlogger.

“When VP Sara uttered those words, she was not responding as Sara Duterte, the Vice-President, but Sara Duterte, the wife, mother, daughter, and sister who only sought to protect her own and her family members’ lives,” said Vunlian.

The lawyer then stressed that the supposed threat against Duterte was “real,” citing alleged occurrences of the vice president being a target of unauthorized intelligence and surveillance operations by government operatives “that exposed her family to high-level risks and security threats, thereby causing intense trauma and uncontrollable fear.”

“She didn’t commit an impeachable offense. She drew the line in the sand and said, enough is enough. That is the meaning, and that is the context,” said Vinluan.

Furthermore, Vinluan also argued that the allegations of grave threats and inciting to sedition are offenses defined under the Revised Penal Code and punishable by “prisión correccional,” which therefore places them under the jurisdiction of municipal trial courts or other first-level courts.

“These charges are not other high crimes as contemplated by the Constitution as grounds for impeachment and are therefore not impeachable,” said Vinluan.

The counsel then insisted that Duterte was “fighting two important battles that day” when she revealed the kill plot.

“One against the threat to her family’s life, and another against the life of the ordinary Filipino, constantly suffocated by the immense weight of corruption, which she talked about during the presscon. She never incited sedition. She merely echoed the voice of ordinary Filipinos,” said Vinluan.

The defense team was given the opportunity to respond after presiding officer and Senator-judge Francis Escudero pointed out that Hontiveros’ line of questioning “pertains to the final issue of this entire impeachment proceeding.” /gsg

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