Tulfo, witness to defense: Original ‘Romanov’ plan was threat vs Marcos

MANILA, Philippines — Amid discussions of a so-called Oplan Romanov supposedly aimed at taking down Vice President Sara Duterte and her kin, Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo and a witness in the impeachment trial said that the term was first mentioned in a threat against the President’s family.

During the impeachment trial on Tuesday, defense panel member lawyer Mark Vinluan asked the prosecution’s witness, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc, whether he had heard of Operation Romanov — named after the Romanovs of Russia, a royal clan who reigned during the 17th Century until their execution in 1917 during the February revolution.

Lotoc responded that he had heard about it — but also noted that the first time came across the term was in a rally where Duterte’s brother, Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte spoke of the Romanovs as a warning to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

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“Well as I said, I heard the term ‘Romanov’ when it was mentioned by Mayor Baste (Duterte) during the Maisug rally.  Other than that, we have no validated (information) about the Romanov Operatio,” Lotoc said mostly in Filipino.

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READ: Sara camp to present witnesses to prove alleged ‘Operation Romanov’

After this, Tulfo stood to ask the witness regarding the context of Mayor Duterte’s mention of the Romanovs, to which Lotoc confirmed that it was a warning to Marcos to remember the fate of the Romanovs.

“I did mention that for me, Oplan Romanov started with Mayor Baste Duterte, during a Maisug rally in Davao.  So my question now Mr. Witness, do you remember what Mayor Baste Duterte said about the Romanovs that night?” Tulfo, speaking Filipino, asked.

“If I remember it right, what he said was ‘Mr. President, remember what happened to the Romanovs.’  If I’m not mistaken sir ah, that’s what he said […] that’s it, ‘When you go to bed tonight, think about the Romanovs’ is how I remember he said it,” Lotoc said.

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“It’s like he is saying that it might happen to your family like what happened before in 1986, if my memory serves me right sir, that’s what Mayor Baste said,” he added.

According to Tulfo, this only makes it perplexing why a certain Princess Maui, the vlogger in the online press briefing hosted by Vice President Duterte in November 23, 2024, attributed Oplan Romanov to a plot to kill the Duterte family when Mayor Duterte first made mention of this in a January 2024 rally.

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“That’s why Mr. Presiding officer I am confused why Princess Maui mentioned that in the online press conference of VP Sara, that Romanov threat for Sara Duterte when in fact it was Baste Duterte who mentioned these words as a warning to the first family.  So which is which, Mr. Witness, where did this Romanov start, and who should avoid the threats?” Tulfo asked.

“Yes, insofar as our investigation is concerned, since it started with Mayor Baste and we were not able to validate another Romanov Operation that happened, because I think it started with them, with the brother of the Vice President,” Lotoc replied.

Different Romanovs

But Vinluan argued that the Romanov mentioned by Duterte is different to what Princess Maui mentioned — asking Lotoc whether they had investigated the threat against Vice President Duterte as much as they checked on her alleged threats to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House of Representatives Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.

“But I’m asking (about) Operation Romanov eh, so it’s not about think about the Romanovs […] You mentioned that Mayor Baste said that statement, think about the Romanovs, et cetera.  But he did not mention Operation Romanov, it was Princess Maui who mentioned the word Operation Romanov,” Vinluan said.

“In the video, it was Princess Maui who said Operation Romanov, all right?  Will you agree with me that based on that question, there was also a threat against VP Sara and her family?” he asked.

Lotoc said that there was a threat, prompting Vinluan to ask whether this has been checked by the NBI.  However, Lotoc said that they cannot move forward since Princess Maui did not respond to their invitation to shed light on the alleged threats against Duterte.

Senator-judge Francis Pangilinan then asked Lotoc if NBI would have probed the matter had Princess Maui attended, to which the NBI official answered in the affirmative.

“If hypothetically, Princess Maui attended and explained about the Operation Romanov and she talked about the details, would the NBI act on it?  What would you do about it if you got that kind of information?” Pangilinan asked, speaking Filipino.

“Yes sir, definitely sir, definitely,” Lotoc said.

“The problem is that, as you mentioned earlier, she did not face the NBI.  But as in any other case, if someone showed up and said she received a threat, what is the standard operating procedure of the NBI?” Pangilinan asked again.

“We validate first the information sir, and then once it is confirmed, we will start the case build-up,” Lotoc replied.

Duterte’s threats were the subject of Article IV of the Articles of Impeachment against her.  The threat, the prosecution said, came after she lashed out at the Marcos couple and Romualdez after her chief-of-staff, Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, was detained within the House premises.

Lopez’s detention, meanwhile, was prompted by the House committee on good government and public accountability’s decision to cite her for contempt after she allegedly committed undue interference during the panel’s investigation into alleged misuse of confidential funds within Duterte’s offices.

READ: Zuleika Lopez among prosecution’s next witnesses in impeachment trial

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At one point, Duterte was asked by Princess Maui 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. /jpv