THE Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday urged Vice President Sara Duterte to show up in today’s inquiry of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on her verbal threats against President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez said while it is the prerogative of the Vice President not to attend the investigation, she is expected to “follow the rule of law and the processes with respect to investigations by our law enforcement agencies.”
“That’s part of the legal process. If they believe that she’s better off not attending, that’s their lookout. That’s a matter that would be left to the discretion of their defense team, but it would be best if she would present herself because that’s part of the process,” Vasquez said in an interview.
Vasquez made the call after Duterte said on Monday that she is skipping today’s investigation regarding her remarks that she has tasked someone to kill the First Couple and Romualdez if she gets killed or if something bad happens to her.
The Vice President, who is herself a lawyer, said that her legal team had told her that her appearance before the NBI was not necessary and that she could just submit an affidavit narrating the circumstances related to her statements.
She also said that she has prior engagements on the same day.
The NBI is investigating Duterte’s verbal threat which she made during a midnight press briefing that she called on November 23 after the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability ordered the transfer of her chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, who was then detained at the House detention facility, to the women’s prison in Mandaluyong City.
Lopez had been cited in contempt by the panel due to her “undue interference” in the legislative inquiry into the Vice President’s alleged misuse of hundreds of millions of public funds.
Duterte had denied threatening the Marcos couple and Romualdez, saying that her statement was “maliciously taken out of context.”
Aside from Duterte, the NBI had also summoned members of the media who covered the press briefing, along with vloggers from the Diehard Duterte Supporters (DDS), to shed light on the incident.
Duterte was initially invited to appear before the NBI last November 29 but was absent. The NBI on Monday last week issued another subpoena to the Vice President asking her to attend’s inquiry.
Vasquez said it will be up to law enforcement agencies if they will file charges against the Vice President.
“We will wait until the law enforcement agency will file the proper charges before the National Prosecution Service. We don’t want to preempt any of these proceedings and we should let the processes proceed its natural cause,” he said.
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.
The Vice President had asked for a copy of the complaint and other pertinent documents that led to the investigation. She had also requested that the NBI send her the questions it intended to ask her, which the bureau turned down.
NBI Director Jaime Santiago earlier said that if Duterte still fails to appear today, they would already submit their findings to DOJ prosecutors.
