ASEANEWS HEADLINE-VP DU30 | MANILA, Philippines: NBI files grave threat, sedition raps vs Sara
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte arrives at a press conference to give a statement on impeachment complaints filed against her at her office in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila on February 7, 2025. Duterte said she had yet to consider stepping down and was still weighing a run for president despite her dramatic impeachment this week by the House of Representatives. / AFP / Jam Sta Rosa
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NBI recommends sedition, grave threat raps vs Sara Duterte over Marcos threats | ABS CBN News
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MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed grave threats and inciting to sedition charges against Vice President Sara Duterte before the Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday over her assassination threats against President Marcos and his family.
NBI Director Jaime Santiago said a six-man investigating panel, including him, unanimously agreed that Duterte is liable for inciting sedition and committing grave threats against the President, First Lady Liza Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez during an online press conference on Nov. 23, 2024.
“Our lawyers and myself weighed in on the case and we are one in our findings: our decision is to file a case against the Vice President,” Santiago told reporters in Filipino.
The ball is now with the DOJ whether its prosecutors will file a case in court against the Vice President or not, Santiago said.
Asked for comment, Duterte curtly said, “as expected.”
The National Prosecution Service (NPS), an office under the DOJ tasked to conduct preliminary investigations and pursue criminal cases, said it would check whether the evidence is “complete” before referring the matter for preliminary investigation.
Santiago, a former regional trial court judge, expressed confidence in the strength of the evidence supporting their recommendation to file grave threats and inciting to sedition charges against the Vice President.
“(Our recommendation) was studied by five lawyers, in addition to me… I think it will prosper,” he said in Filipino during an interview with “Storycon” on One News on Wednesday.
According to Santiago, the penalty for grave threats depends on the crime that was threatened to be committed. The penalty is one degree lower if the threat was fulfilled, while it will be two degrees lower if it was not fulfilled.
In the case of Duterte, Santiago said she threatened to commit murder, which carries a penalty of reclusion perpetua up to 40 years in prison.
Under the Revised Penal Code, the next penalties are reclusion temporal (12 years and one day to 20 years) and prision mayor (six years and one day to 12 years).
And while Duterte’s supposed threats were not fulfilled, meaning the penalty if convicted is prision mayor, Santiago noted that the act was committed online.
Under the Cybercrime Prevention Act, penalties for crimes committed online will receive a penalty one degree higher than that stipulated in the Revised Penal Code, or back to reclusion temporal for Duterte if convicted.
Santiago, however, admitted that it remains unclear if a sitting Vice President can be imprisoned while in office. Under the Constitution, the Vice President may only be removed from office through impeachment.
“We don’t have jurisprudence that we can follow regarding that. This is the first time that a vice president was charged,” the NBI director said. “We’ll just cross the bridge when we get there.”
Duterte has been impeached by the House of Representatives and is awaiting trial.
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DOJ to evaluate
The DOJ will evaluate the criminal complaints filed against Vice President Duterte, Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon said yesterday.
Fadullon explained the DOJ will assess the sufficiency of evidence for the complaint filed by the NBI before proceeding with a preliminary investigation.
“We are checking with our docket if documents have been received pertaining to that case. If it is with the NPS already, 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,” Fadullon said.
“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,” he added.
DOJ spokesman Mico Clavano said investigating prosecutors must determine if there is a prima facie case with reasonable certainty of conviction, the process of which involves case buildup.
He explained that the crime of grave threats is determined based on whether there was an intent to intimidate or cause fear, even if the target does not take the words seriously or comes to harm.
Clavano noted that this is what the Supreme Court has ruled and is what the DOJ will consider when it evaluates the criminal complaint against Duterte, who earlier claimed she had contracted a person to kill the President, the First Lady and the Speaker if she is killed.
The assassination threat is the subject of one of the seven Articles of Impeachment against Duterte, which the House transmitted to the Senate on Feb. 5.
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No bearing
Senate President Francis Escudero clarified that the NBI’s filing of inciting to sedition and grave threats charges has no impact on the impending impeachment proceedings against the Vice President.
“No, that has no bearing on the impending impeachment proceedings – none at all. In fact, it can proceed simultaneously, precede, or follow. It has no relevance to the impeachment process that will be conducted by the Senate,” Escudero told Senate reporters.
For his part, former Senate president Vicente Sotto III considered the impeachment case against Duterte a non-election issue, while the majority of the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial candidates have remained silent on the matter.
“I don’t think it’s going to be an election issue. There are no (senatorial) candidates involved in the impeachment. We do not yet know who the senators will be admitted to the 20th Congress. I don’t think so,” Sotto noted.
Outgoing Makati Mayor Abby Binay, who is seeking a Senate seat in the May 2025 elections, said it would be “premature” and “unfair” for senatorial candidates to state their position on Duterte’s impeachment.
“I think because we as senators will be judges, so we will have to be impartial. To answer the question will give a premature position,” she added.
Armando Virgil Ligutan – senior lecturer at the University of the Philippines College of Law and one of the authors of the third impeachment complaint against Duterte – yesterday said the filing of cases against the Vice President could serve as evidence in the impeachment trial against her.
“That is evidence that I see the House prosecutors will surely raise before the impeachment trial,” he said at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.
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Before SONA
The impeachment trial against Duterte should start before the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Marcos in July as it will be difficult to initiate after as the 20th Congress convenes, according to former Supreme Court associate justice Adolf Azcuna.
At the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum, Azcuna noted that after the President’s SONA, which also coincides with the opening of the 20th Congress, there will be a new set of members of the House of Representatives following the 2025 elections.
The validity of the continuation of the impeachment complaint, which the House of 19th Congress filed, could be called into question since the 20th Congress will have a different composition.
“In my opinion, starting the trial after SONA cannot happen, because there should be an identity for the same complainant and same complaint. Maybe there should be a change in the approval of another complaint under the 20th Congress,” he said.
“The complainant of the House of Representatives will change; therefore, it will be questionable whether we can try the complaint filed by the previous House. Maybe it can’t,” Azcuna added.
Azcuna said the trial does not necessarily have to be concluded under the 19th Congress but it must start before it ends, with the Senate convening and formally accepting the Articles of Impeachment, taking their oaths and informing the House accordingly so the latter could confirm their prosecutors.
“The trial need not be finished under 19th Congress; it just needs to be started. Because if you don’t start it, the jurisdiction of the tribunal may not be attached and it will be too late to attach it under the 20th Congress,” Azcuna added.
But Senate majority leader Francis Tolentino supported the view of Escudero that the impeachment trial of the Vice President should start during the 20th Congress.
“I respect the decision of the Senate President, out of respect to him as his majority leader,” Tolentino said, noting that Azcuna had a point that the Charter mandates the Senate to act immediately on the impeachment complaint.
Lawyer Rene Sarmiento, one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, said the Senate can convene as an impeachment court even during the current recess of Congress.
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Anti-terror charges
Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a known critic of the Dutertes, on Wednesday said Vice President Duterte should be charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act for publicly admitting to plotting the assassination of the country’s top political leaders.
“Duterte did not just threaten to kill an ordinary person, she publicly admitted to plotting to kill the political leadership of the country, specifically the President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives,” Trillanes told The STAR through Viber.
“If any other ordinary person did the same act, they would be charged under the Anti-Terror Law, and that should be the proper charge against her,” Trillanes added.
Duterte, also facing multiple impeachment complaints, will be charged only upon the DOJ’s determination of probable cause.
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NBI lauded
Allies of President Marcos in the House of Representatives commended the NBI for filing sedition charges against the Vice President.
Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Jil Bongalon, Manila 1st District Rep. Ernix Dionisio and La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega V said the move was in the right direction.
“There’s a possibility that they found evidences and probably people behind such threats. So kudos to NBI, we salute you for doing your job. We hope that we get to the bottom of it. To the men and women of NBI, we salute you,” Dionisio said.
For Ortega, the recommendation and filing of criminal charges is par for the course. “It’s really expected because I really don’t know how could they ever deny that when this was shown live, and it has an accompanying video footage,” he said.
1Rider party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez said Duterte’s impeachment was a “culmination, logical conclusion” to House probe she repeatedly snubbed.
Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong agreed. “I guess this is a logical conclusion of what we have discussed during those previous committee hearings. That the end result would be this, the actual filing of the impeachment complaint,” he said.
“VP Sara should be held accountable for threats. I hope it will not suffer the same fate that the charges I filed against her father,” House deputy minority leader and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro said.
“These recommended charges are just the tip of the iceberg. The Vice President must be held accountable not only for her threats but more importantly for the misuse of confidential funds,” former ACT Teachers lawmaker Antonio Tinio emphasized.
Deputy majority leader and Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre warned senators that the threat to the life of President Marcos grows every day they delay the impeachment trial of Vice President Duterte.
Manila Rep. Joel Chua said the mandate of the Constitution is for the Senate trial “to proceed forthwith” if the impeachment complaint is filed by one-third of all members of the House. – Cecille Suerte Felipe, Delon Porcalla, Jose Rodel Clapano, Mark Ernest Villeza, Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Daphne Galvez, Janvic Mateo
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