POLICE chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil and PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) director Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III are ready to face charges in relation to the supposed illegal arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
“They are prepared to answer any and all charges before any proper forum,” PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo told a press briefing at Camp Crame yesterday.
Sen. Imee Marcos, in a press conference on Tuesday, called on the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, Special Ambassador on Transnational Crime Markus Lacanilao, Marbil and Torre for the supposedly unlawful arrest of Duterte.
Duterte was arrested last March 11 based on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity in relation to the complaint filed by victims and relatives of extrajudicial killings of his administration’s brutal campaign against illegal drugs.
“We have to reiterate the role played by the PNP on the arrest of former president Duterte… we just extended assistance (to the) PCTC (Philippine Center on Transnational Crime),” Fajardo said.
She said it was the PCTC that requested police assistance in implementing the arrest warrant, through an Interpol red notice, issued against Duterte.
“They believe they acted within the bounds of law and within the mandate of their office,” said Fajardo, referring to Marbil and Torre.
On Tuesday night in Sogod, Southern Leyte, Vice President Sara Duterte thanked Marcos for leading the Senate investigation into her father’s alleged illegal arrest and turnover to the ICC even as she said that she wants those involved charged.
“Nagpapasalamat ako kay Sen. Imee dahil binuksan niya ang pag-uusap kung ano ang ginawa nila, anong mali na ginawa nila kay pangulong Rodrigo Duterte (I thank Sen. Imee for opening the discussions about what they did, for the wrong that they did to former president Rodrigo Duterte),” she said.
“Ngayon gusto naming makita na ma-file-an ng kaso ‘yung mga tao na may kasalanan sa kung anong nangyari sa pagdukot kay pangulong Rodrigo Duterte (Now, we want to see charges filed against the people involved in the kidnapping that happened to former president Rodrigo Duterte),” she added.
Duterte has previously called her father’s arrest a form of “state kidnapping,” saying the Philippine government was no longer obliged to enforce the ICC’s arrest warrant because the country has withdrawn from the Rome Statute effective 2019.
In her video message to the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) Sinaglawin Class of 2025 last Monday, the vice president alluded to her father’s arrest and told the new policemen that there is no honor in “betraying” a fellow Filipino.
She rallied them to aspire to become patriots who “will stand for the truth, die for what is right and protect the nation from the corrupt and power-hungry.”
“Huwag sana ninyong hayaan na mabahiran ang inyong propesyon ng mali katulad ng pagkakanulo sa isang Pilipino ng kanyang kapwa Pilipino (May you not allow your profession to be blemished such as a betrayal of a fellow Filipino),” she said. “Walang kapatawaran ang pagsuko at pagpapakulong sa mga dayuhan ng isang Pilipinong naglingkod ng tapat sa ating bayan (Turning over to foreigners and allow them to jail a fellow Filipino who wants to serve our country is unforgivable).”
Meanwhile, the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) yesterday asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate and identify the source or sources of a document supposedly plotting the downfall of the Duterte family through an alleged “Oplan Horus.”
Marcos cited the document and the purported plot during her Tuesday press conference.
“I write to formally request the immediate intervention of the National Bureau of Investigation in connection with the circulation of a malicious and falsified document labeled ‘Oplan Horus’ which falsely attributes authorship to House Majority Leader Rep. Manuel Jose ‘Mannix’ Dalipe,” Lakas-CMD Executive Director Anna Capella Velasco said in a letter to NBI Director Jaime Santiago.
The “manufactured document,” according to Velasco, has been damaging not only the reputation of Dalipe and the Lakas-CMD, but also the entire House of Representatives.
“We urge the NBI to treat this matter with the utmost urgency, as it involves not only the identity and integrity of a high-ranking public official but also the credibility of our democratic institutions ahead of the 2025 midterm elections,” Velasco said, stressing that the document is clearly false and Dalipe’s signature forged.
“He (Dalipe) categorically denies knowledge of or involvement with the said document. We strongly believe that this incident constitutes identity fraud, cyber libel, and violation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act,” she said.
Velasco asked the NBI to unmask the individual or groups that created and distributed the document and establish the source of the forged signature.
She also said the NBI should determine how the document came to be published in a newspaper and then disseminated online.
She likewise asked the NBI to coordinate with Meta and other digital platforms to trace how the document was amplified. – With Wendell Vigilia and Ashzel Hachero
“Initiate the appropriate legal proceedings and file criminal charges against those responsible for the fabrication, publication, and malicious sharing of the said document,” she added.
