Vice President Sara Duterte will be summoned by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to shed light over her statements that if she is killed, President Marcos, his wife and First Lady Louise Araneta Marcos, and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romuldez will be assassinated by her hired assasin.
NBI Director Jaime B. Santiago said “ngayon po ay ginagawa na namin at iseserve na agad immediately (we are preparing the subpoena and we will serve it immediately).
“We will ask her to appear before our office within five days from today. Appear s’ya sa amin, sagutin n’ya ang aming mga tanong para mabigyan ng pagkakataon ang ating Vice President (She will be asked to appear before us to give the Vice President the opportunity to be heard),” Santiago said during a press briefing in Malacanang on Monday, Nov. 25.
During the briefing, DOJ Undersecretary Hermogenes T. Andres said: "We will take every effort to protect the President and to investigate everyone who could possibly be involved in this assassination plot of the three high-ranking officials of government."
Andres confirmed that the NBI has been tasked to conduct an investigation.
Earlier, President Marcos had issued a lengthy statement on the threat and tirades issued by Vice President Duterte.
"Nakakabahala ang mga pahayag na narinig natin nitong mga nakaraang araw. Nandiyan ang walang pakundangang pagmumura at ang pagbabanta ng planong ipapatay ang ilan sa atin (The statements we heard these past few days are concerning. There's the disrespectful cursing and threats to get some of us killed)," Marcos lamented.
"Kung ganun na lang kadali ang pagplano sa pagpatay ng isang Presidente, papaano pa kaya ang mga pangkaraniwan na mamamayan? Yang ganyang krimimal na pagtatangka ay hindi dapat pinapalampas (If it's that easy to plot a murder against a President, how much more to an ordinary citizen. Such criminal threats should not be ignored)," Marcos added.
"'Yan ay aking papalagan' (I will fight back)," the President declared.
During the briefing, Undersecretary Andres said: “At gagawin po ng National Bureau of Investigation ang lahat ng mga hakbang para matunton ang identity nito kasama po ang pag-iisyu ng subpoena kay Vice President Sara na humarap sa NBI para bigyan po ng kaliwanagan ang kanyang mga pananalita dahil po deretsuhan po n’yang sinabi na siya po ay kumuha ng tao na s’ya pong gagawa ng pagpatay hindi lang po sa Pangulo kasama po ang ating First Lady at ang ating Speaker of the House (The NBI will take steps to identify those involved including issuing a subpoena to Vice President Sara to face the NBI to shed light on her statements where she directly said she has hired persons to kill the President, the First Lady, and the Speaker of the House)."
“Hindi po tama pong pananalita na nanggagaling po sa napakataas na opisyales ng ating bayan (It is not right for a high-ranking public official to make such statements)," he stressed.
Santiago said the NBI did not arrest Duterte when she made the statements that went viral in social media “out of courtesy and due process.”
It can be recalled that the NBI arrested in 2020 teacher Ronnel A. Mas for posting on Twitter his offer for a P50-million reward to anyone who will kill then President Rodrigo R. Duterte. The complaint against Mas had been dismissed by the prosecutors after the former president pardoned him.
Prosecutor General Richard Anthony A. Fadullon said the DOJ’s National Prosecution Service (DOJ) is working with the NBI and other law enforcement agencies “in making sure that whatever case or cases that may be filed later on are something which will be backed up and be supported by evidence.”
Andres, on the other hand, expressed doubt on Vice President Duterte's claim that the statements she made over the weekend were taken out of context.
He recalled that the Vice President, "when she answered certain questions and she declared the plot to assassinate the President even immediately added ‘this is no joke, I did it and I wanted to make sure that this person will do it to its completion,'"
Andres also recalled that Vice President Duterte had previously declared that she had imagined cutting the head of President Marcos.
“Tinanggap namin ang salitang ‘yun in a metaphorical way, isang simbolismo lang ng kanyang galit (We accepted that as a metaphorical way, a symbol of her anger),’ he said.
“Ngunit sa kanya pong bagong pananalita hindi po maaring isang tabi lang ‘yan at kailangan po ng ating gobyerno na kumilos dahil po ang isang halal na Pangulo a binigyan po ng banta ng isang mataas ding opisyal ng gobyerno na may kakayahan din na gawin ito kaya kami po we are not leaving any stone unturned (However, her latest rants can’t be ignore and the government has to act because a duly elected President has been threatened by another high-ranking government official who has the ability to do it and we are not leaving any stone unturned),” Andres pointed out.
If the statements of Vice President Duterte were made due to threats against her, Andres assured: “We will give necessary law enforcement agents to make that investigation as well if you think that there is such a threat coming.”
However, he said: “We have not received any formal complaint or request for assistance on that particular matter.”
He assured that “everything that is being directed against the Vice President, if she is being held accountable, are being done through legal and constitutional processes.”
In the meantime, Andres decline to disclose what possible charges could be filed and what legal actions could be taken.
“First, the Vice President is not immune from suit. She can be the subject of any criminal, administrative case and the Ombudsman also has authority to do its duty to discipline and to take necessary measures to deliver on its mandate as the investigator of all high-ranking government officials,” he explained.