‘Can’t lie your way of out of this,’ Duterte told after denying assassination threat

Metro Manila, Philippines - House lawmakers are pushing back against Vice President Sara Duterte’s claim that she never made an assassination threat against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., which is one of the grounds for her impeachment.

In a joint statement on Saturday, Feb. 8, House Assistant Majority Leaders Pammy Zamora, Zia Alonto Adiong, and Jay Khonghun – all members of the Young Guns bloc in the House – accused the Vice President of lying during her first press conference following her impeachment.

Duterte said, “I did not make an assassination threat to the President. Sila lang nagsasabi niyan. Sila lang nagsasabing may assassination, may assassin, may gunman (They are the only ones saying there’s an assassination, an assassin, and a gunman). I did not say that.”

But the legislators recalled her outburst during the House detention of her chief of staff in November: “May kinausap na ako na tao. Sinabi ko sa kanya, pag pinatay ako, patayin mo si BBM, si Liza Araneta, at si Martin Romualdez. No joke. No joke.”

[Translation: I already spoke to someone. I told that person that if I was killed, kill BBM, Liza Araneta, and Martin Romualdez. No joke. No joke.]

Zamora called Duterte’s reversal a desperate attempt to erase her reckless remarks from the public’s memory.

“VP Sara Duterte cannot lie her way out of this,” Zamora said.

“Her own words prove that she talked to someone, an assassin or a hitman, and ordered the killing of the President, the First Lady, and the Speaker of the House if anything happened to her. That is a direct admission of a criminal conspiracy, and now she wants to pretend she never said it?” Zamora said.

Adiong reiterated that Duterte’s remarks raise serious national security concerns, with many unanswered questions: Who was the "assassin" she spoke to? Why the sudden backtracking? Is this a threat to national stability?

“VP Sara Duterte is now trying to play the victim, but she is the one who put herself in this mess. She threw a tantrum, blurted out highly dangerous statements, and now that she realizes the legal consequences, she is pretending none of it happened. But the public is not stupid,” Adiong said.

Khonghun, for his part, called for a swift resolution of the investigation being conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation.

“We are talking about the Vice President of the Philippines saying she ordered a hit on the President, the First Lady, and the Speaker. If this were anyone else, they would already be in handcuffs,” Khonghun said.

“The Filipino people deserve answers. VP Sara Duterte must not be allowed to get away with lying to the public and evading responsibility. Her statements are not just reckless, they are dangerous, and she must be held accountable,” he added.

Duterte is the first Vice President in history to be impeached by the House of Representatives. Over 200 lawmakers signed the Articles of Impeachment, which have now reached the Senate, prompting it to begin preparations for a trial.