ASEANEWS HEADLINE-Philippine Elections | MANILA: CIDG files sedition raps vs Rody; NBI says no case

MANILA, Philippines — Days after saying at a campaign rally that 15 incumbent senators may be killed, former president Rodrigo Duterte is facing charges of sedition and unlawful utterances filed by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

PNP-CIDG chief Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III said Duterte’s remarks should not be taken lightly.

In filing the complaint with the Department of Justice, Torre said the PNP-CIDG is undertaking a case build-up against Duterte, as required under the DOJ’s Department Circular 20 that institutionalizes the policy on “pro-active involvement of prosecutors” in such a procedure.

On the other hand, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Jaime Santiago sees no need to investigate Duterte, saying the remarks given during an election campaign were just “political propaganda and rhetoric.”

The NBI chief, who previously filed a complaint for grave threats and inciting to sedition against Duterte’s daughter Vice President Sara Duterte, argued that the former president’s statements should be understood in the context of political discourse.

Torre, however, noted, “It is already the Bagong Pilipinas and those kinds of statements should be prohibited, and the following morning he would just say that it was only a joke.”

“This is the reason why our country was in a mess for six years. Up to now we are still a mess because of all the killings. If they will be taken for their word, then they will say that it was a joke only, or their latest excuse – that he is only expressing a legal opinion. That is already too much,” Torre said.

While no sitting senator and senatorial candidate has filed a complaint against Duterte, Torre said that he, as a Filipino and as a police officer, opted to take the initiative to take legal action.

“For some, this may be viewed as a small issue. But it is being uttered by a former president and it is not far-fetched that it will be taken seriously by his blind supporters, because this has happened before. He said that drug users should be killed and so many were killed that we no longer know where the vigilante is coming from. The fact remains there were several people who died because he encouraged it during his term,” he added.

He said he informed his “bosses” of his intention to file a case. “We have the latitude to decide on our own on this level,” he said.

“I did this as a patriotic Filipino and as a member of law enforcement, we should implement the law. It is very clear to us that the law is being violated, so we deemed it necessary to file the case under the guidance of the Chief PNP,” he said.

After the case build-up, the complaint will go through preliminary investigation.
Duterte would be given a copy of the complaint so he can review it and file his counter-affidavit.

The CIDG chief said senators who wish to file a complaint may inform the CIDG as soon as possible so it can send investigators to get their statements.

Reacting to Torre’s filing of a complaint, Duterte’s former chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo said, “It is a foolish filing of a case.”

“They, in the administration, should be happy because… his statement shows that he is acknowledging that the administration has a strong lineup of senatorial candidates,” Panelo said.

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No need for probe

The NBI chief, however, noted that the former president made similar remarks during his term.

“During the past administration, when president Duterte was in power, there were always statements like ‘If you corrupt the youth, I will kill you.’ Such words from the president were widely accepted by the public,” Santiago said.

“But now, times have changed. Maybe those types of remarks, full of violence, are no longer suitable. Now we need peace,” he admitted.

But while the NBI chief appeared to be dismissive of the issue, Duterte’s declaration of wanting to have 15 senators killed was made at the PDP-Laban proclamation rally in San Juan on Feb. 13.

Various groups would later call on the NBI to launch a probe just as it had done on Vice President Sara Duterte for her threat on live video to kill President Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez.

The NBI last week filed grave threats and inciting to sedition charges with the DOJ against the Vice President.

In dismissing calls for an NBI probe on Duterte, Santiago noted that none of the senators had signified intention to sue the former president. “The senators, whoever they are, should be the ones to complain if they believe they are being threatened with death,” Santiago said.

At the PDP-Laban rally, Duterte gleefully said: “Now, there are too many of them, what should we do? Let’s just kill the senators now to create vacancies. If we kill 15 senators, we all get in.”

Lawmakers, including Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong and Zambales Rep. Jay Khonghun, denounced Duterte’s kill remarks and called for an investigation.

 

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Remulla: Up to NBI

Earlier yesterday, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said it’s up to the NBI to investigate Duterte.

“Motu proprio, the NBI can look at that,” Remulla said. “We are used to the language of the former president… We do not jump at everything that he says.”

“But if the senators themselves complain, then we have reason to act on the matter because they are the ones endangered by that kind of statement,” he pointed out.

The justice secretary explained that the situations involving Duterte and the Vice President should be treated differently.

“With VP Sara, it was specific, she named President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and House Speaker Martin Romualdez and she gave a motive,” Remulla said.

In the case of the former president, he did not the name the senators that he wanted killed.

Supporters of Duterte claimed he was just joking when he said at the proclamation rally of PDP-Laban senatorial candidates that he wanted incumbent senators killed to make room for his favored senatorial bets. His pronouncement was met with cheers and laughter.

 

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Mixed reactions from senators

Senators, meanwhile, expressed mixed reactions to Duterte’s pronouncement. Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said Duterte’s behavior could have troubling implications

“A person’s obsession with the topic of death and killing, mentioning it every time he or she speaks, is a worrying sign of a serious personality disorder,” Pimentel said.

On calls for an investigation on Duterte, Pimentel said he’s leaving it up to the NBI and the DOJ.

“Let DOJ and NBI do their work. They should know if, given the facts, a crime has been committed or not. If there is no crime whatsoever, then let us drop the issue,” the senator said.

Former senator Manny Pacquiao said he is focused on his campaign and would not be distracted by the issue.

“We know him well; we weren’t distracted. Let’s focus on our platform. Let’s set up a platform to improve our country’s economy,” Pacquiao said.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada and Sen. Ramon Bong Revilla expressed belief that Duterte was just joking.

“PRRD just likes to joke around. It’s not an issue for me,” Estrada said, referring to Duterte by his initials.

“I think that’s just FPRRD’s way of speaking. That’s just how he expresses himself. But we’re not scared of things like that,” Revilla said. — Cecille Suerte Felipe