VICE President Sara Duterte on Wednesday night vowed to heed the summon issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and attend the preliminary investigation in connection with the charges filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for her alleged threat to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and House Speaker Martin Romualdez assassinated.
“Nag-kausap na kami ng aking abogado with regard sa counter-affidavit, tinatapos na lang namin. Mag-appear ako dahil kailangan ko mag-oath (I have spoken to my lawyer with regard to the counter-affidavit, we’re just finishing it. I will attend because I have to take an oath),” Duterte said in a chance interview in Cagayan de Oro City.
Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon on Wednesday said the preliminary investigation is set on May 9 and 16 at 2 p.m.
The NBI last February 12 filed before the DOJ charges of inciting to sedition and grave threats against Duterte over her public statement that she has contracted someone to kill the Marcos couple and Romualdez if an assassination plot against her succeeds.
The crime of grave threats penalizes statements that create real and imminent danger to specific persons, regardless of whether actual harm occurs.
On the other hand, the crime of inciting to sedition penalizes statements that pose real and imminent threat to public order, regardless of whether actual unrest occurs.
Duterte made her threats against the First Couple and Romualdez during an early morning online press briefing in November 2024 as she slammed the order of a committee of the House of Representatives to transfer lawyer Zuleika Lopez, her chief of staff, from the House detention facility to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City after she was cited in contempt for supposedly attempting to interfere in the panel’s investigation into Duterte’s alleged find misuse at the OVP and the Department of Education when she was the concurrent education secretary.
“Huwag kang mag-alala sa security ko kasi may kinausap na ako na tao. Sinabi ko sa kanya, ‘pag pinatay ako, patayin mo si BBM, si Liza Araneta, at si Martin Romualdez (Do not worry about my security because I’ve already spoken to someone. I told that person to kill BBM, Liza Araneta and Martin Romualdez if I were to be slain),” she said during the online press conference.
Duterte later on denied issuing the death threat, saying her statement was taken out of logical context since she only made it just to highlight the alleged threat to her life.
