Sara Duterte's past violence: Video of VP punching sheriff shown at impeachment trial

MANILA, Philippines – A video footage of Vice President Sara Duterte, during her time as Davao City mayor, punching a sheriff was presented as evidence in her impeachment trial. This comes as the Senate impeachment court tackles allegations of "grave threats" against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. In its line of questioning of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag, House prosecution lead counsel Rep. Gerville Luistro on Tuesday asked Matibag to state the considerations the NBI uses when investigating threats. Matibag told the court that “pattern of violence” is among the five factors the NBI uses to determine whether the threat is serious, in accordance with those used by the United States Secret Service. READ: Duterte impeachment trial day 8: NBI’s Matibag to testify on threats Luistro later asked Matibag what the NBI had assessed about Duterte’s pattern of violence, to which Matibag cited the findings of its task force based on open-source intelligence. “There we saw an event when our Vice President Sara Duterte was still mayor, where there was a sheriff who wanted to carry out his duty, which was a legal court order for a demolition order, but the then mayor and now vice president did not like it, she called the sheriff and punched him in the face.” Matibag recounted in Filipino. The video footage of the incident Matibag referred to was then shown to the court, where Duterte was seen punching the sheriff’s head at least four times. Matibag is testifying before the impeachment court as the prosecution proves Duterte’s alleged betrayal of public trust after she claimed hiring a hitman to take down Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez. /gsg