Criminal cases filed by NBI against VP Duterte for threatening Marcos

Vice President Sara Duterte (File photo from House of Representatives Media Affairs Bureau)

MANILA, Philippines — Criminal cases have been filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Vice President Sara Duterte for saying during a live stream press conference that, in case she would be killed, she had already hired someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Cases for inciting to sedition and grave threats were filed on Wednesday. This was according to NBI Director Jaime Santiago.

“We filed inciting to sedition and grave threats. The DOJ will weigh on these complaints — whether both cases will be filed [in court], or just one case, or they will be dismissed,” Santiago said in Filipino in a press conference.

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Santiago did not give other details as to the pieces of evidence that led them to make such a recommendation.

However, he admitted that they were not able to identify the gunman that Duterte was referring to who agreed to kill the three if she would herself be killed.

Meanwhile, Chief State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon said the National Prosecution Service would be evaluating the complaint.

“It will again be evaluated to determine if the evidence is complete. If it is, then that is the only time it can be referred for preliminary investigation. Pending the results of the evaluation, we cannot say anything more for now in order not to preempt the results and prejudice the rights of any party,” Fadullon said.

Duterte failed to appear before the NBI last year to give a statement about her Zoom press conference that was aired on various social media platforms.

Instead, her lawyer delivered a letter to NBI Director Jaime Santiago stating her denial.

“Since your office acknowledges that it has access to publicly available material on the internet, we are confident that the content and context of the entire press conference subject matter of your investigation will bear this out,” read the letter.