National Bureau of Investigation Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc told the Senate impeachment court Monday that Vice President Sara Duterte‘s alleged threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. are not protected by the constitutional right to free speech.
Testifying on the fourth day of Duterte’s impeachment trial, Lotoc said the NBI examined the vice president’s claim that her remarks were protected as freedom of expression but concluded otherwise.
“As a lawyer and being in law enforcement, freedom of speech protects lawful expression, but it does not protect utterances that satisfy the elements of a criminal offense,” Lotoc told the impeachment court.
Lotoc said investigators found that Duterte’s public statement about allegedly contracting someone to kill the president, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she were killed could not be considered protected speech.
He added that accepting such statements as protected expression would normalize threats of violence and undermine public order.
Lotoc also testified that the NBI considered the alleged threats to be “serious and real,” leading investigators to recommend the filing of three counts of grave threats and one count of inciting to sedition against the vice president.
