The National Bureau of Investigation has identified persons of interest in its investigation into Vice President Sara Duterte’s alleged hiring of someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, NBI Director Melvin Matibag said Tuesday.
Testifying on the eighth day of Duterte’s impeachment trial, Matibag said the NBI created a special task force to investigate the alleged threat against the president.
“We already have established persons of interest who may point to or identify the person whom the vice president allegedly talked to,” Matibag told the Senate impeachment court in response to questions from House lead prosecutor Rep. Gerville Luistro.
“Or one of these persons of interest may actually be the person the vice president spoke with,” he added.
Matibag said the persons of interest could help investigators identify the individual allegedly contacted by Duterte but declined to disclose their identities.
“Respectfully, I regret that, in my capacity as NBI director, I cannot disclose the identities of these persons of interest. This is a continuing and open investigation into the alleged contract to kill our president,” he said.
Matibag said revealing their identities at this stage could compromise the investigation and place informants and intelligence assets at risk.
“It would compromise our investigation and endanger our informants or assets on the ground who are providing us with human intelligence,” he said.
