Ridon tells VP Duterte’s lawyers: Do better, you didn’t disprove threat

MANILA, Philippines — Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon has challenged Vice President Sara Duterte’s lawyers to do better when cross-examining witnesses in the impeachment trial, saying that their questions failed to result in answers that will disprove the existence of threats against ranking officials.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, Ridon asked if that is the best effort that the defense panel can come of, noting that even if there were discrepancies and typographical errors pointed out in the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) documents, the fact that Duterte threatened President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his relatives still stand.

“We have a message to the defense: is that your best effort?  I think you should do better because even if they had raised document discrepancies on cross, it did not diminish the threat itself, right?” Ridon, speaking in a mix of Filipino and English, told reporters before the fifth day of Duterte’s impeachment trial.

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“That will not change, that remains active, this means that while our discussions on whether there are differences in the docket number of the Department of Justice documents may continue, it does not change the fact that there was a person who made the threats, there are threats, and a person was threatened,” he added.

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According to Ridon, they would let the defense nitpick as it does not change the fact that Duterte threatened Marcos, his wife First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and his cousin former House of Representatives Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romauldez.

“So the theory of the prosecution that there is an actual threat to the President and his family, that rose to a level of an impeachable offense, still fits the billing.  It exists so we’ll let them nitpick on all of these documents — no problem,” Ridon said in Filipino.

“Because it doesn’t change the fact that there were threats,” he added.

Ridon was referring to the issues raised by counsel for the defense Atty. Mark Vinluan when he cross-examined NBI Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc, one of the agents who investigated the threats made by Duterte in an online press briefing last November 23, 2024.

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Vinluan and some senator-judges noticed that there were inconsistencies in the dates of the affidavit and docket numbers in the files of the NBI.

READ: Defense, senator-judges point out inconsistencies in NBI files

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Grasping at straws

Ridon said that aside from the discrepancies in the files, the defense also seemed to be eager to imply that the NBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are under the Office of the President (OP) — and therefore, both agencies may have been influenced by Marcos.

However, Ridon said such a question is a no-brainer because as an agency under the executive branch, the NBI and the DOJ are really under the supervision of the OP — but this does not mean that there was interference in any way from the President.

“The second thing is that their line of questioning is funny, because honestly, some of the questions are no-brainers, but it was mentioned several times during the cross-examination.  First, there were questions regarding the control of the Office of the President over the NBI and the DOJ, but that’s given, right?  Because both are in the executive department, right?” Ridon said mostly in Filipino.

“What they want to show there is that the Office of the President interferes on the work of the DOJ, that the [OP] involves itself on the work of the NBI.  But the answer of Atty. Lotoc is clear, right?  That there is a back and forth of the documentation from the DOJ to the NBI, and when the DOJ said ‘there is something lacking here, return and fix it’ they eventually fixed it,” he added.

Such questions, Ridon said, showed that it seems the defense is “grasping at straws” in conducting the cross-examination.

“So basically that’s the objectives of cross relating to that, that the President directed NBI — Atty. Vinluan even called him BBM — shows that they are basically grasping at straws in conducting the cross,” he noted.

Duterte’s threats, contained in Article IV of the Articles for Impeachment, is the first topic to be discussed by the Senate Impeachment Court.  Two witnesses have been called to the witness stand already — NBI Senior Agent John Mark Calilung who was called last Tuesday and Wednesday, and Lotoc who was examined on Monday.

As the defense has not finished conducting its cross-examination, they are expected to continue on Tuesday, when trial resumes at 2:00 p.m.

The threats from the Vice President against the Marcos couple and Romualdez came during an online briefing last November 23, 2024, as she lashed out over the House’s decision to detain her chief-of-staff, Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez.

Lopez’s detention came after she was 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 panel’s investigation of alleged confidential fund misuse within Duterte’s offices.

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

At one point in the briefing, Duterte was asked if she is not concerned about her safety.  In response, the Vice President said that they should not worry about her security as she has already talked to a person to kill the President, the First Lady, and the former Speaker, if she herself got killed.

READ: With or without contract to kill, VP made impeachable offense – lawmaker

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The defense panel has maintained that Duterte’s statements were part of free speech, but several government officials and the prosecution team believe it was a grave threat — regardless of whether or not the Vice President executed a contract with an assassin to kill the three. /jpv