By Ivy Tejano
DAVAO CITY – Former Davao City Information Officer Jefry Tupas accused the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) of harassment after it recommended that charges be filed against him over alleged cash deliveries linked to Vice President Sara Duterte.
Tupas condemned the recommendation to file charges against me before the Department of Justice (DOJ), which covers alleged obstruction of justice, cyberlibel, and publication of false news, describing the move as “harassment, plain and simple.”
“I was the one who presented evidence—including airline ticket bookings, photos of stamped passport pages, and Facebook posts—that exposed Rodulfo Gracioso Jr.’s lies. Yet now, I am the one the NBI wants to charge,” Tupas said in a statement.
The complaints stem from allegations by the ex-patrolman that Duterte instructed Tupas to receive suitcases containing billions of pesos, allegedly under the direction of former House Speaker Rep. Lord Allan Velasco.
Both the Vice President and Tupas have denied the allegations. Duterte also clarified that Tupas served as Davao City’s information officer and was neither her personal aide nor financial trustee.
Tupas submitted a counter-affidavit to the NBI with airline bookings, stamped passport pages, and Facebook posts that he said disproved Gracioso’s claims and timeline. However, the bureau proceeded with its investigation.
He also questioned the bureau’s investigation under its director, Melvin Matibag, saying there was no physical evidence that cash had been handed over, despite the bureau’s reliance on Gracioso’s claims.
“I would also like to refute Matibag’s claim that the information about threats to my safety came from me,” the former city information officer said.
According to Tupas, NBI Special Assistant for Mindanao Concerns Voltaire Rovira and other agents went to his residence in North Cotabato on the morning of September 29, 2026, to offer security assistance and protective custody.
Tupas maintained that he had not initiated the request for protection. He argued that had he been the source of the security concerns, he would have personally approached the NBI for assistance.
He also said he had asked Matibag for a formal invitation letter during a telephone conversation concerning the proposed protective custody arrangement.
Instead, Tupas received a subpoena dated September 28, 2026, a day before the agents visited his residence.
For Tupas, the sequence of events raised questions about the bureau’s intentions, prompting him to view the offer of protection and the invitation to meet in Manila as possible attempts to pressure him.
“Now that he has publicly identified me as a witness, the apprehension over Matibag’s invitation for a meeting in Manila and the offer for protective custody becomes completely justified,” Tupas said.
He added that it is now glaringly obvious that these were not genuine gestures for his safety, but rather deceptive maneuvers to trap him and force him into becoming a false witness.
Tupas further alleged that he was being targeted and intimidated to pressure him into providing fabricated testimony against Duterte in connection with a plunder investigation arising from the Gracioso allegations.
“Gracioso’s allegations are completely fabricated, and I have presented concrete evidence to prove that they are outright lies,” he said.
Tupas said the NBI can file all the trumped-up charges they want against him, but he will never allow himself to be used as a witness for a case built on lies.
