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For Senator-Judge Alan Cayetano, if a death threat alarms you, then you must be guilty.
That was in his interjection July 14 of NBI officer Jeremy Lotoc:
Cayetano: “Sabi mo, President Bongbong Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez felt threatened.”
Lotoc: “Base sa investigation namin, base sa video at base sa ibang testimonies.”
Cayetano: “So if they felt threatened, that means tingin nila totoo yung sinabi ni VP Sara Duterte na patayin sila. They won’t feel threatened if they don’t think she meant it na patayin silang tatlo, right?”
Lotoc: “In our investigation, trinato nila ‘yong utterances as seryoso.”
Cayetano: “Yes. But they won’t feel threatened unless tingin nila seryoso ’yong threat.”
Lotoc: “According to them seryoso ‘yong threat.”
Cayetano: “But the threat was,‘Kapag pinatay niyo ako, papatayin ko kayo.’ So kung hindi naman nila balak patayin, why would they feel threatened? Unless you’re saying now you think balak na nilang papatayin si VP.”
Lotoc: “From our point of view as law enforcement, ‘yon ang naging alarming issue.”
Cayetano: “I’m also alarmed with the language, with saying that. I’m alarmed with what’s happening in our country, in flood control. Pero ang party na threatened, feels threatened. Pero ang sinabi ni VP Sara, kapag pinatay ako, patayin silang tatlo. So kung wala naman silang tatlo balak na patayin siya, why would they feel threatened? Did that not come into your mind as an investigator?”
Lotoc: “What comes to your mind, your honor, is ‘yon nga ‘yong possibility na, God forbid, may mangyari sa VP na hindi naman alam nu’ng tatlo, then ma-trigger ngayon ‘yong instruction, then papatayin ‘yong tatlo na hindi naman nila alam. At the same time, ‘yong mga ibang grupo…”
Cayetano: “Then in that case, hindi ba logical because you’re the President of the Philippines, you order the PSG [Presidential Security Group] to make sure na walang mangyayari sa kanya rather than baliktad na tinanggalan siya ng security. Nu’ng tinanggalan, I’m just following your logic. I won’t argue.”
That came after Lotoc testified about VP Sara’s livestreamed death threats on Nov. 23, 2024. He said he also reviewed Sara’s Oct. 18 press conference, during which she gestured how she’d behead BBM and expressed desire to dig up Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s remains to throw into the sea.
Lotoc swore he tried to look into a so-called “Operation Romanov,” but that Sara and the vlogger who asked her about it snubbed their invitations to meetings.
How Cayetano came to conclude that the target of death threats must be guilty if they’re alarmed is unclear.
What’s clear are news reports of Sara, as Davao city mayor on July 1, 2011, punching a court sheriff’s face twice. She claimed then that the sheriff had ignored her request to postpone for two hours the demolition of squatter shanties till she arrived. She then warned the court that city hall would no longer allot it subsidies.
Lotoc said it was Sara’s brother Davao City Mayor Baste Duterte who mentioned “Romanov” during a public tirade against BBM on Jan. 28, 2024. It pointed to the First Family, not to Sara and kin, he said. He also read about the transfer to Metro Manila of 75 security personnel of Sara, leaving her with 335.
The NBI followed evidence, not personalities, Lotoc stressed. Its probe involving BBM relied on authenticated recordings, public statements and corroborating witnesses. The alleged threats against Sara did not yield validated information to merit further investigation.
Sara’s defense counsels pointed up technicalities, like typo errors and the respondents in three Supreme Court rulings on grave threats being commoners and not a VP like Sara. Lotoc stuck to investigative findings being different from DOJ’s recommended criminal charges and constitutional questions that only the impeachment court can decide.
Cayetano was Rody Duterte’s VP running mate in 2016. He was also his foreign secretary, May 2017 to October 2018.
He questioned Lotoc about the Romanov allusion:
“I’m not close to Mayor Baste or VP Sara. Ang kasama ko sa Congress si former Deputy Speaker Pulong. But in the last four years, I think I’ve seen him twice or thrice. But my reading nu’ng sinabi ni Mayor Baste is kapag natulog ka sa gabi,remember the Romanovs.
“So we have to look at our history. The Romanovs were evicted via a revolution.
“Mayor was doing a parallel sa 1986 revolution. Unlike the Romanovs, the Marcoses were given asylum in Hawaii. Over time BBM became president. The Romanovs, inubos.
“Now if mayor was making Romanovs Marcos, I don’t think we should draw a conclusion here that mayor was threatening the First Family because remember there’s a thin line between a warning and a threat.”
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