Prosecution presents video of Sara Duterte punching sheriff in Davao

Then-Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte confronts sheriff Abe Andres, whom she punched four times for serving a demolition order on houses inside a contested property in Barangay Soliman, Agdao district, Davao City, on July 1, 2011. (Contributed photo) MANILA, Philippines – The video footage of Vice President Sara Duterte when she was Davao City mayor punching a sheriff was presented at the impeachment trial as the Senate impeachment court tackles Duterte’s alleged grave threats against President Ferdinand R. 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. Article continues after this advertisement 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 the 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 Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again. Your subscription has been successful.