Vice President Sara Duterte yesterday skipped for the second time the inquiry of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) into her verbal threat to the life of President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez.
The Vice President said she will not present herself before the NBI because the investigation into her threats against the First Couple and Romualdez is “unfair.”
“I don’t think na patas ang imbestigasyong ito (I don’t think that this investigation is fair),” she told a press conference after snubbing the NBI’s subpoena for the second time.
The NBI launched the investigation after the Vice President said during an online press conference that she has contacted a hitman to kill the Marcos couple and Romualdez in case she gets killed or if something bad happens to her.
This was the second time that Duterte failed to appear before the NBI, the first being last November 29 when she used as excuse her attendance to the hearing of the House Committee on Good Governance and Public Accountability which is looking into the alleged fund misuse of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education (DepEd) during the Vice President’s term as concurrent secretary.
While the House hearing was postponed to pave the way for Duterte’s attendance to the NBI inquiry, the Vice President still did not appear before the agency’s investigators.
Duterte said: “The NBI has decided to file cases against me even before they started their investigations,” she said. “Kahit pa sabihin nila na may imbestigasyon, sa umpisa pa lang ay may desisyon na sila na mag-file ng cases (Even if they say there’s an investigation, right from the start they already have a decision to file cases).”
She likewise said she does not regret her statements. “No, buti na ‘yung alam nila na ‘pag namatay ako (it’s good that they already know so if I die), I will not die in vain,” she said.
The Vice President earlier said her lawyers have told her that she does not have to be physically present at the NBI Headquarters to explain her remarks since she can just file a letter or an affidavit.
Duterte said she does not plan “to leave the country or hide if there’s a warrant of arrest, mainly because my children are here.” “So when I’m detained, I want to be able to see my children,” she said.
She added she expects the worst case scenario: impeachment, removal from office and the filing of multiple cases against her.
The Vice President said her legal team is already preparing to answer the two impeachment complaints filed against her, and added she is expecting another complaint to be filed against her.
“Very recently, we had a meeting with the lawyers. And what was discussed there was the arrangements. Because we needed more lawyers, we are expecting another impeachment case now,” Duterte said.
She declined the offer of Rep. Rodante Marcoleta (PL, Sagip) to be her lawyer in the impeachment proceedings, saying “he can better serve the country as a House member.” “That’s what’s important right now, we need good public servants, leaders, good officials in the government,” she said.
“I’d like to thank Cong. Rodante Marcoleta for his offer to be my lawyer in the impeachment case. I appreciate it because he’s a very good lawyer, he’s brilliant lawyer,” said the Vice President.
Duterte also said that her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, had offered her money for her to hire good lawyers but she also declined it. She said she expects to meet with her father to discuss the issues against her on Christmas.
“Hindi pa kami nagkausap ni dating Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte. I expect na magkikita kami as usual sa December 24 sa bahay ng mother ko. Likely, baka doon namin mapagusapan ‘yan, kung man mapag-usapan namin (I haven’t spoken to former President Rodrigo Duterte yet. I expect that we will meet as usual on December 24 at my mother’s house. We will likely talk about the issues there),” she said.
Last Thursday, the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and former Makabayan bloc lawmakers led 75 complainants in filing a second impeachment complaint against the Vice President.
The complaint, coming just two days after the first one which was filed by civil society and religious organizations, cited only one ground — betrayal of public trust.
The complaint cited Duterte’s alleged “abuse and misuse” of a total of P612.5 million in confidential funds in both the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd).
It was endorsed by Makabayan bloc lawmakers party-list Reps. France Castro (ACT), Arlene Brosas of Gabriela, and Raoul Manuel of Kabataan who urged their colleagues to follow their conscience when the complaints are put to a vote.
The first impeachment complaint filed Monday last week by civil society groups led by the Akbayan party-list group accused the Vice President of culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes for various acts.
It was also anchored on the Vice President’s alleged misuse of confidential funds and other violations such as her threat to the Marcoses and Romualdez.
‘NO THREAT’
At the NBI inquiry yesterday, Duterte’s legal team submitted a letter to NBI Director Jaime Santiago denying that the Vice President threatened the life of the First Couple and Romualdez.
“With respect, we must state the obvious that the Honorable Secretary of Justice is this office’s administrative superior, head of agency, and the President’s alter ego, while the Honorable Executive Secretary is the President’s chief alter ego. Given these facts, you will kindly understand our client’s prudence in her cooperation with your office, and her desistance from appearing at and giving any statement on 11 December 2024,” stated the letter, which was delivered by lawyer Paul Lawrence Lim.
“That said, our client vehemently denies having made any threat constituting grave threats under Art. 282 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to Sec. 6, RA 10175, terrorism or any other punishable act under RA 11479 or any crime,” it said.
It said that since the NBI has access to “publicly available material on the internet” related to the midnight press conference of Duterte where she made her verbal threat, “we are confident that the content and context of the entire press conference subject matter of your investigation will bear this out.”
President Marcos Jr. said Duterte’s remarks were “reckless and troubling,” while the National Security Council (NSC) described it as a “national threat.”
Duterte, a day after the press conference, said her remarks were “maliciously taken out of logical context.”
Duterte’s legal team also urged the NB I to exhaustively investigate the alleged threats on the Vice President’s life, which they said were supposedly publicly di sclosed six months ago.
“We are also confident that given your letter’s assurance that the threats to our client are also being investigated, the same attention and vigor are being devoted thereto, notwithstanding the absence of any directive from your superiors,” they said in the letter.
Duterte has not detailed any specific threat to her life.
FOR RESOLUTION
In a press briefing, Santiago said they had hoped that the Vice President would have at least filed an affidavit to dispute the charges slapped against her.
He said the NBI is now compelled to proceed with its investigation without the Vice President’s formal affidavit.
“It (the letter) is not the sworn statement that we are looking for or the counter-affidavit we are looking for. So, we will just proceed. Remember that we have the clippings, yung video clip ng kanyang presscon noong (the video clips of her presscon last) November 23, if I’m not mistaken. And then we subpoenaed several people and (have) taken their statements. We interviewed them. So, all these things pag-uusapan na namin lahat (So, we will discuss all these things now),” he said.
He said they will also include in their assessment the testimonies of journalists and vloggers whom they have interviewed, after which they will create a panel of investigators to finalize their findings and recommendations, which they will submit to the Department of Justice (DOJ) early next year.
When asked of updates on the alleged threats on Duterte’s life, Santiago said they could have gathered more information about it had the Vice President attended the inquiry.
“She did not specify kung sino yung tao na nagte-threat sa kanya. Wala siyang sinama na proof kung ano yung threat na yun. Ibinalik lang sa amin yung sinasabi ko na we will investigate. But then, yung hindi niya pag-appear ay hindi siya nakipag-cooperate para malaman namin kung sino nagte-threat sa kanya, kasi wala naman specific eh (She did not specify the person who is supposedly threating her life. She did not present any proof. She just passed it back to us, what I said that we will investigate it. Her non-appearance can be taken as non-cooperation in the investigation so we can determine who is threatening her because there were no specifics),” he added.
Duterte, daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, is being investigated for alleged grave threats in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 and possible violation of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 after she said that she has contacted someone to kill President Marcos, his wife Liza, and Romualdez if she herself was killed or if something bad happens to her.
The Vice President has asked for a copy of the complaint and other pertinent documents that led to the investigation. She also asked the NBI to send her the set of questions it intended to ask, which the bureau rejected.
Santiago earlier said that if Duterte still fails to appear today’s inquiry, the bureau would submit the evidence it has on her remarks to DOJ prosecutors.
PRIVATE SECURITY
The Vice President, during the press conference, said she is considering hiring security from private agencies in the face of the supposed threats to her life and the recall of some military officers from the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG).
“So kung magtanggal sila, hindi nila i-replace, iwan na lang nila kung ano ‘yung maiwan. And kung wala namang maiwan dahil tatanggalin nila lahat, I already said that I will seek security arrangements outside of the Armed Forces of the Philippines already (If they remove some of my security personnel, don’t replace them anymore, just leave the ones who will remain. And if none would be left because they will remove everyone, I already told them that I will seek security arrangements outside of the AFP already),” she said.
The Vice President said she has already written AFP Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner Jr. to let him know that she would no longer accept replacement soldiers in the VPSPG.
She said hiring private security cannot be considered a “private army.” “And we do not know if these individuals are allowed to bring guns. So that makes them less of an army man kung wala silang baril (if they do not have guns).”
