NBI recommends filing of cases against Sara Duterte over threats vs. Marcos
The National Bureau of Investigation recommended the filing of criminal complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte in connection to her alleged threats against President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
NBI director Jaime Santiago told Super Radyo dzBB on Wednesday, Feb. 12 that the cases include inciting to sedition and grave threats.
This comes a few months after Duterte made headlines for giving an expletive-laden rant against Marcos and his kin during a Zoom press conference on the midnight of Nov. 23, where she accused First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos of funneling cash-filled envelopes through the DepEd. She also implied that Romualdez, during a plane ride, told her that the Marcoses were pilfering campaign funds.
What takes the cake is her unequivocal account of contracting a hitman to assassinate Marcos, his wife, and Romualdez if she were killed.
"May kinausap na ako na tao. Sinabi ko sa kanya, 'Pag pinatay ako, patayin mo si BBM, si Liza Araneta, at si Martin Romualdez. No joke. No joke,'" Duterte said in response to a commenter wishing for her safety. "Nagbilin na ako, Ma’am. 'Pag namatay ako, 'wag ka tumigil hanggang hindi mo mapapatay sila.' And then he said yes."
The following day, Malacañang said they are "acting on the Vice President’s clear and unequivocal statement that she had contracted an assassin to kill the President if an alleged plot against her succeeds."
"The Executive Secretary [Cesar Chavez] has referred this active threat to the Presidential Security Command for immediate proper action," they stated.
They stressed that "any threat to the life of the President must always be taken seriously, more so that this threat has been publicly revealed in clear and certain terms."
Duterte, however, said in a statement on Nov. 26 that the “insistence” of the current administration that Marcos' life is "under active threat" is "ominous," calling the narrative "farce" and "imagined."
"There is absolutely no flesh on the bone, and despite the absence of a reliable investigation, authorities were quick to consider this a national security concern,” she noted.
According to her, common sense “should be enough for us to understand and accept that a supposed conditional act of revenge does not constitute to an active threat.”
Duterte was impeached by a total of 215 members of the House of Representatives on Feb. 5. Around 30 more lawmakers later added their signatures to the complaint, increasing the number to 245. The total membership of the House is 306, which means that at least 102 signatures, or one-third of the lower legislative chamber, are needed for the case to go up to the Senate for trial. It will now go up to the Senate for trial. In the 24-seat Senate, it needs at least 16 or a two-thirds vote to remove her from office.
In a prepared statement, the House leadership said that the grounds for Duterte's impeachment are a “series of grave allegations, including conspiracy to assassinate Marcos, large-scale corruption, abuse of public funds, and involvement in extrajudicial killings.”
"Respondent's conduct throughout her tenure clearly displays gross faithlessness against public trust and a tyrannical abuse of power that, taken together, showcases her gross unfitness to hold public office and her infidelity to the laws and the 1987 Constitution," part of the complaint read.
Duterte meanwhile appeared to be unbothered by her impeachment case. In her recent press conference, she said that it "hurts more" to be broken up with than to be impeached by the House.
