NBI Chief: Sara Duterte Influenced Individuals to Threaten Marcos

MANILA, Philippines – National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag confirmed on Tuesday that Vice President Sara Duterte has influenced individuals to make threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. During the Senator-judges’ interjection period during the vice president’s impeachment trial, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian asked Matibag whether or not the NBI had spoken to anyone who had been influenced by Duterte’s previous threats to the president. To this, Matibag answered: “We have already visited some of them and in fact, we have already filed cases against some of them. And those who made threats through social media, we have already spoken to, and the others are currently facing investigation.” READ: Matibag: Duterte’s threat had ‘kinetic force,’ prompted other threats Asked how the NBI knows that the threats were made out of Duterte’s influence, Matibag said the threats mirrored those the vice president made herself. “According to those we spoke to, it’s clear that they’re always targeting the head of the president. We can correlate that with the statement of the mayor and the vice president themselves,” Matibag noted. Earlier in the trial, Matibag made a comparison between the statements of the vice president and her brother Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, after both expressed, in separate instances, threatening to take Marcos’ head. In a press conference on October 18, 2024, the vice president expressed that she “want[s] to remove his head,” and she “imagined cutting off [the president’s] head.” In a more recent speech on April 12, 2026, Baste Duterte said: “We only need one head, the head of Bongbong Marcos!”