VICE President Sara Duterte maintained on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, that the impeachment complaint against her has failed to establish its allegations, saying the fourth day of her impeachment trial demonstrated that the case is “not supported by evidence.”
In a statement issued by the Office of the Vice President, Duterte criticized the prosecution's presentation before the Senate sitting as an impeachment court, accusing it of relying on speculation and fabricated claims.
“On Day 4 of the impeachment trial, the country witnessed what I have been saying all along: the complaint is not supported by evidence,” Duterte said.
The Vice President particularly rejected allegations that she made actionable threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
“Repeatedly claiming that there were threats when none existed, inventing an assassin where there was none, and fabricating evidence to support those claims does not transform fiction into fact. Instead, such actions undermine the integrity of public institutions, erode public trust, waste public resources, and corrupt the search for truth,” she said.
Duterte stressed that impeachment proceedings should be based on credible proof rather than conjecture.
“An impeachment proceeding should be grounded in credible evidence, not speculation, manufactured narratives, or unsupported allegations. The rule of law depends on facts, not fiction,” she added.
The trial proceedings is currently focusing on Article IV of the Articles of Impeachment, which accuses Duterte of committing grave threats over statements she made during an online press conference in November 2024 against Marcos, the First Lady and Romualdez.
During Monday's proceedings, the House prosecution presented Bangsamoro Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc, the former chief of the National Bureau of Investigation's Cybercrime Division, who testified on the agency's investigation that led to its recommendation to file complaints for grave threats and inciting to sedition against Duterte.
Lotoc told the impeachment court that the NBI considered Duterte's statements “serious and real” after evaluating the manner in which they were made, their literal meaning, the nature of the alleged instruction, and the relationship between the Vice President and the individuals she mentioned.
He said investigators concluded that Duterte's statements went beyond constitutionally protected speech, arguing that public declarations about hiring someone to kill three individuals could not simply be dismissed as rhetoric.
However, Lotoc said investigators were unable to identify or locate the alleged assassin Duterte claimed to have hired.
He also confirmed that the NBI found no validated information proving such a person existed, although he maintained that identifying the supposed hitman was not necessary to establish the offense of grave threats.
The NBI official likewise disclosed that the bureau had separately investigated reported threats against Duterte's life and twice invited her to cooperate, but she neither appeared nor sent a representative, leaving investigators without information to pursue the case further.
The defense, meanwhile, rejected the prosecution's theory that Duterte had actually contracted someone to assassinate the President, First Lady and Romualdez.
Defense lawyer Mark Vinluan told the impeachment court that the camp intends to present witnesses and evidence supporting its claim that an alleged plot dubbed "Operation Romanov" existed and that Duterte's controversial statements should be understood in the context of what the defense described as credible threats against the Vice President and her family.
Vinluan said the defense would determine whether to call witnesses depending on how the prosecution presents its remaining evidence, but confirmed that "Operation Romanov" would form part of its evidence-in-chief.
The alleged operation has become central to Duterte's defense, with her lawyers arguing that her remarks were made in response to what they described as an actual threat to her life rather than as a genuine plan to harm the country's top officials. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)