Barbers on Sara Duterte threat: Who’d place contract to kill on paper?

MANILA, Philippines — With the argument that Vice President Sara Duterte’s threats to ranking officials is not substantiated by an actual contract between her and an assassin, prosecution panel spokesperson Robert Ace Barbers has pointed out that no one in their right state of mind would put such a deal on paper.

Barbers, in a press briefing after the third day of Duterte’s impeachment trial at the Senate, asked whether someone with the intention to hire a killer would sign a paper that may later be used to incriminate him or her.

Likewise, the former Surigao del Norte lawmaker jokingly asked whether the party contracting a killer will sue for breach of contract should the deal fail to push through or be implemented.

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“I have not seen such a thing, where a criminal will execute a contract.  If indeed the person is an assassin, I don’t think that there will be a contract, I don’t think that they will sign,” Barbers told reporters in Filipino on Wednesday.

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“For example, if they did not fulfill the contract, will you sue them for breach of contract?  That’s not the case right, so I don’t honestly think there’s a contract that would be executed by the contracting parties and the person, the party involved,” he added.

The next question to this argument, Barbers said, is if this contract will be notarized by a lawyer — stressing the absurdity of a printed contract for killers.

“Actually the follow-up question there is whether it is true that there is a contract, will you have it notarized?, he pointed out.

House of Representatives prosecution team member and San Juan Rep. Bel Zamora said that under the country’s legal system, the deal automatically becomes void if the contract being notarized by lawyers involves illegal matters.

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“Well of course Cong. Ace is correct, I’m sure nobody has done a contract relating to the hiring of an assassin, I mean as lawyers, I have not experienced anything like that,” Zamora, a lawyer by profession, said partly in Filipino.

Duterte’s supporters and allies have questioned the specific allegation that she issued grave threats, as they claimed that there is no proof that the Vice President contracted a killer to kill the Marcos couple and Romualdez.

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During the third day of the trial, a portion of the defense’s cross-examination of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Senior Agent John Mark Calilung focused on whether he had personal knowledge of who is the alleged hitman that Duterte had supposedly hired.

READ: Sara Duterte trial: Witness admits no direct knowledge of alleged hitman

According to Calilung, he only learned of Duterte’s alleged threats after watching an online media briefing on November 23, 2024, during which she made the remarks.

However, when later asked about the same topic by Senator-judge Bam Aquino, the witness clarified that he had no personal knowledge of the alleged assassin because he was only tasked with investigating the video.

Then in his speech, defense panel member Mark Vinluan stressed that there is no proof that Duterte has hired an assassin.

In the same press briefing, Zamora also said that whether or not Duterte actually executed a contract with an assassin to kill President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, the Vice President’s mere statements constituted an impeachable offense.

Duterte’s threats are a part of the prosecution team’s Article IV of the Articles of Impeachment.  It is also the first issue that was tackled in the impeachment trial.

The threats from the Vice President came in an online press briefing on November 23, 2024, while her chief-of-staff, Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, was detained at the House premises.

Lopez was detained after being cited for contempt by the House committee on good government and public accountability of the 19th Congress, as she supposedly committed undue interference during the investigation of the alleged confidential fund misuse within Duterte’s offices.

READ: Sara Duterte’s kill remark vs Marcos is ‘active threat’ – Palace

As she was infuriated over Lopez’s detention and subsequent attempts to transfer her, Duterte badmouthed the Marcos couple and Romualdez.

At one point, Duterte was asked if she is concerned about her security; she replied by urging people not to worry since she had contracted someone to kill the three if she herself gets killed. /gsg

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