The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is now investigating “less than 20 persons of interest” in its search for the individual that Vice President Sara Duterte allegedly ordered to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House speaker Martin Romualdez if she ends up dead.
One of them is a member of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG), NBI Director Melvin Matibag told the Senate impeachment court on Wednesday, July 22.
Matibag returned as a witness for a cross-examination of his testimony on the alleged grave threats and inciting to sedition charges against Duterte under Article IV of the articles of impeachment.
He disclosed on Monday that the NBI had established persons of interest in the alleged plot of the Vice President to have Marcos, his wife, and his cousin killed. He also said the special task force he created in April to search for the alleged hitman had “great progress” in its investigation and that they will be able to identify the person in three to six months.
“We are narrowing it down to less than 20 individuals, and we already have their names. In fact, we have talked to the families or acquaintances of some of them. That is why I said that in three to six months, we can finally identify that person,” Matibag said in a mix of English and Filipino.
The NBI chief was responding to a query by Sen. Joel Villanueva, who pressed him for more details on the persons of interest he earlier said were being investigated by the NBI.
Intelligence sources
On the ninth day of the impeachment trial, senator-judges sought more information about the NBI’s search for the alleged hitman. Sen. Erwin Tulfo asked Matibag how they were able to get hold of those persons of interest and whether their professions are “hitmen, gun-for-hire, or riding in tandem.”
Matibag said that in all NBI cases, they relied on several intelligence reports, including open-source intelligence and human intelligence, and “used tools to monitor things.”
Given that Duterte made an “extrajudicial admission” on Nov. 23, 2024, in an online briefing that she had asked some to kill Marcos, his wife and his cousin and that person agreed to it, Matibag said the NBI first looked at “where” this individual could come from.
He said they searched the Vice President’s network and connections, which were “wide” as she was, after all, the second-highest official in the land and her father was former president Rodrigo Duterte.
“So they have developed relationships with, first of all, men in uniform who up to now were appointed [by Rodrigo Duterte]. I mentioned the VPSPG and the Davao Death Squad (DDS),” Matibag said. “…By process of elimination, we looked at people who might be the ones [Duterte talked to] or may know something.”
He added: “We looked at many individuals until [the number] was trimmed down.”
On questioning by Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, Matibag said there were “strong indications” that the NBI would be able to find the hitman given the desire of these families to talk to them about what they know. That’s why, he said, they expect “positive results” in their search for the alleged hitman.
Asked by Gatchalian on the probability of finding the alleged hitman, Matibag said: “On the scale of 1 to 10, 6–7 there will be someone who could pinpoint the personality.”
Lascañas affidavit
Meanwhile, the defense and prosecution panels clashed anew over the use of the affidavit of confessed DDS hitman and former police officer Arturo Lascañas by Matibag in his testimony on Monday.
Lead prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro had repeatedly said they merely referred to Lascañas’ affidavit as the one used by the NBI in showing the patterns of violence of the Vice President. The patterns of violence concept is one of the five standards used by the NBI in assessing the threats made by Duterte against the President.
In his affidavit, Lascañas—who is now a witness of the International Criminal Court in the crimes against humanity charges that the elder Duterte is now facing in the Netherlands—alleged that the Vice President was one of the architects of the brutal drug war waged by her father during his administration.
Defense lawyer Mark Vinluan questioned how Matibag got hold of the “unsigned” and “unnotarized” affidavit of Lascañas, even asking whether the NBI chief had searched the document through Google.
On the contrary, Matibag said they secured a copy of the affidavit through open-source intelligence, particularly from informants.
Vinluan also asked the witness if he was aware that Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who was the former head of the Senate public order and dangerous drugs committee, had recommended perjury charges against Lascañas in 2017 over the retraction of his 2016 affidavit denying that there was a DDS engaged in extrajudicial killings of drug users.
Matibag said he was not aware of the recommendation.
Lacson took the floor to clarify that he did not recommend perjury charges against Lascañas, but only proposed an amendment to the Revised Penal Code for stricter perjury sanctions in the committee report.
He also said Lascañas had executed three affidavits after several Senate hearings.
Sebastian Duterte
The senator-judge asked Matibag why the NBI did not investigate Duterte’s brother, Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, on the threats he made against Mr. Marcos, which he noted were “almost similar” to those made by the Vice President.
Lacson noted that the NBI even filed a grave threat case against the Vice President before the Department of Justice. He cited two separate statements in January and April made by the Davao City mayor where he first warned Marcos to “think about the Romanovs,” in reference to a powerful ruling family in Russia who were executed by revolutionaries in 1917.
Sebastian Duterte also told a political rally that he wanted the “head” of the President.
Matibag said the mayor’s controversial statements were included in the NBI special task force’s investigation. He acknowledged that his statement during the Reform Alliance for Accountability, Good Governance, and Ethics Coalition rally last April and the NBI’s belief that this could escalate as a national security threat led to the establishment of the NBI body.
The NBI chief said they may file a criminal case against the mayor.
“But eventually, we have an agreement within us that if we can establish elements of grave threats will be there, we will be contemplating also filing grave threat and inciting to sedition,” Matibag told Lacson. CS
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