VICE President Sara Duterte, who is facing an impeachment case over serious threats against the First Couple, was only reacting to an imminent plot to “eliminate their family,” says defense lawyer Mark Vinluan.
During the fourth day of the impeachment trial, Vinluan particularly cited “Operation Romanov,” which according to him was targeting the entire Duterte family.
He also defended VP Sara’s declaration that an arrangement had been made for the assassination of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and then-Speaker Martin Romualdez — in case she gets eliminated first.
Operation Romanov refers to the mass murder of Russia’s last ruling family—Tsar Nicholas II Romanov, his wife Alexandra, and their five children—in July 1918 by the Bolshevik revolutionaries.
Vinluan insisted Operation Romanov is real, and that it justified the Vice President’s threats.
“The truth of the matter is this: She and her family were threatened and while her response was unconventional, it was justified. What triggered her response was a question about Operation Romanov, which is the plot to eliminate VP Sara and her entire family,” he told the Senate impeachment court.
Vinluan said Oplan Romanov was mentioned by a certain Princess Maui in the November 2024 press conference during which Duterte announced that she had spoken to someone about assassinating Marcos.
“Huwag kang mag-alala, Ma’am sa security ko, kasi may kinausap na ako na tao. Sabi ko sa kanya, kapag pinatay ako, patayin mo si BBM, si Liza Araneta, at si Martin Romualdez,” Duterte was quoted as saying in an open-ended zoom teleconference.
“No joke, no joke. Nagbilin na ako, Ma’am. ‘Pag mamatay ako, sabi ko, huwag ka tumigil ha, hanggang hindi mo mapatay sila. And then he said yes,” she added.
During the trial, Vinluan said that Duterte merely responded to the supposed threat against her and her family.
“When VP Sara uttered those words, she was not responding as Sara Duterte the Vice President, but Sara Duterte the wife, mother, daughter, and sister who only sought to protect her own and her family members’ lives. Operation Romanov is in place and the threat against their lives is real,” he further said.
The lawyer likewise claimed that the Vice President was subjected to unauthorized intelligence and surveillance operations by government operatives “that expose her family to high-level risks and security threats, thereby causing intense trauma and uncontrollable fear.”
“Her homes in Davao and Manila were profiled and this is proven by classified casing reports. Her trusted security personnel were removed. Her schedule of official functions like the one in Naga was leaked by intelligence agents and her security was heavily compromised. In sum, the prosecution was right in using the term culmination.”
“But the prosecution’s interpretation is wrong. Rather, when VP Sara left the administration, she suffered various forms of threats and harassment for many months from the powers that be and the culmination was her statement on that fateful early morning in November 2024. She didn’t commit an impeachable offense. She drew the line in the sand and said, ‘Enough is enough,’” Vinluan quipped.
