Day 5: 'Oplan Romanov' highlighted during Senate impeachment trial of Sara Duterte

Manila: A National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) official testified Tuesday (July 14), Day 5 of the Senate impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, that the term “Operation Romanov” — invoked by VP Duterte to justify her alleged threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family — originated as a warning directed at the Marcoses, not the Dutertes.

This was highlighted during Duterte's ongoing trial in the Senate, assembled as an impeachment court.

In the first five trial days (July 6, 7, 8 and July 13 & 14, 2025), the "no joke" threats made by the Vice President to "kill" President Marcos Jr., his wife Liza and ex-House Speaker Martin Romualdez (Marcos Jr's cousin) if she herself was killed was sliced and diced by the prosecution, defence and members of the impeachment court.

Sara Duterte, who ran alongside Marcos Jr in 2022, is the first Philippine Vice President to be impeached, now facing a Senate trial in a feud between the nation's top political titans.

Conviction requires the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate (at least 16 out of 24 senator-judges).

If the Senate finds her guilty on any of the charges, she will be removed from office and permanently barred from holding any public office, which would disqualify her from running in the 2028 presidential elections.

She denies all allegations, dismissing the trial as political harassment.

Filipino political analyst Ronald Llamas said in 2025 that the Marcos-Duterte alliance in 2022 was purely transactional, a fusion of powerhouses from the North (Marcos) and the South (Dutertes) aimed at winning the elections.

He said: "Marcos and Sara won without attending any presidential debate. Sara admitted last year (2024) that there was not even friendship."

Soon after they won, cracks started to show.

Llamas argued: "Marcos knew that if they don't go for the jugular against the Dutertes, they are in danger of being annihilated politically as well as physically."

On Tuesday (July 14), the fifth day of the impeachment trial, NBI Regional Director Atty. Jeremy Lotoc told the Senate, that investigators traced the earliest public reference to the “Romanovs” to a speech by Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, Sara's brother. 

Atty. Lotoc is currently assigned as the Regional Director of the National Bureau of Investigation for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao NBI-BARM.

Prior to this posting, he served as the chief of the NBI Cybercrime Division (NBI-CCD).  

In the address at a “Hakbang ng Maisug” rally in Davao, Baste Duterte told the audience that Marcos Jr’s father was a “kawatan” (thief), and blasted the president for being “swindler” and “bangag” (drug-addled) who is about to self-destruct due to alleged corruption related to the "ghost" flood control projects.

President Marcos Jr. had earlier declared that threats to him and his family will not go ignored: "Yan ay aking papalagan" (that is something I will fight).

On the same occasion, Baste Duterte urged Marcos Jr to reflect before sleeping on the fate of Russia’s Romanov imperial family — executed along with Tsar Nicholas II and his relatives in 1918 — as well as Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his wife, and the events of the 1986 People Power Revolution that ousted Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

Baste Duterte made the "isang ulo lang" ("we only need one head") remark separately from his January 2024 Romanov reference.

Quote: “Isang ulo lang naman ang kailangan namin, ang ulo ni Bongbong Marcos” (“We only need one head anyway — the head of Bongbong Marcos”).

Baste Duterte made this statement while calling on politicians to be selfless and criticising political dynasties or self-serving leaders.

It was widely circulated as a clip and played in congressional hearings in 2026.

On January 28, 2024, during a candlelight prayer rally in Davao City following a Hakbang ng Maisug leaders’ forum, Baste Duterte said (addressing President Marcos): “Just a simple message sa ating Pangulo (to our president): From now on, before you go to bed, think of the Romanovs. Think of Benito Mussolini and his wife. And think of what happened to you in 1986. Maybe you will reconsider the direction that you are taking.”

The Romanov comment alluded to the violent execution of the Russian imperial family, implying a warning about losing power. It did not include the explicit “ulo” (head) phrasing. The two statements are often discussed together in the context of the Sara Duterte impeachment trial, because they fuel debates over alleged threats against the Marcos family, though they were made on different dates and occasions.

Reports and reactions about the "Romanov" comments surfaced in mid-April 2026.

This remark drew significant attention and was later referenced in political discourse and investigations. 

Justice Secretary Jonvic Remulla downplayed it at the time, saying Baste had the right to express himself.

During the Senate impeachment trial on Tuesday, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson pressed Lotoc on the point – noting that until Sen. Raffy Tulfo’s questioning clarified the context during the trial, he and others had understood “OPLAN Romanov” as a threat against Vice President Duterte.

“So you’ve only just realised that OPLAN Romanov is a threat to the first family?” Lacson asked.

Lotoc affirmed that the NBI viewed the reference as directed at President Marcos and his family.

He added that open-source monitoring of Baste Duterte’s speech was not incorporated into the bureau’s investigation report on threats against the Marcoses. 

Prosecutors allege that Sara Duterte made not just expressed dissent, but made grave threats in the November 2024 livestreamed press conference, where she claimed to have contracted someone to assassinate Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez – if anything happened to her or her family.

Lotoc testified that the NBI found Duterte’s statements “serious” and not protected speech – while noting the agency’s efforts to investigate threats against her as well.

Lacson questioned why Baste Duterte’s publicly available remarks — which could have reinforced the narrative of threats against the Marcos family — were not part of the NBI’s core investigation materials.

The trial, expected to influence the 2028 presidential race, continues with senators acting as judges examining evidence on multiple impeachment articles, including grave threats, corruption and betrayal of public trust. 

No verdict timeline has been set.