The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is set to serve today, Nov. 26, the subpoena to Vice President Sara Duterte on her publicly aired murder threats against President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
“Ngayon po magseserve ng subpoena ang mga ahente doon po sa Office of the Vice President (Agents will serve today the subpoena to the Office of the Vice President),” said NBI Director Jaime B. Santiago during an interview on DZBB.
Over the weekend, Duterte held a press conference where she declared that she has talked to a person who, in the event she dies, will kill the Marcos couple and Romualdez.
Following her statements that is now the subject of the NBI investigation, Duterte thereafter claimed that what she said was taken out of context and that the government has ignored threats to her life.
Santiago assured that the NBI has received no information concerning threats against the Vice President and that this was the first time it learned about it.
“Alam n’yo actually isa sa pakay namin kung bakit sinusubpoena namin ang Vice President ay para masabi n’ya rin formally ‘yung sinasabi n’ya na tangka sa kanyang buhay kasi wala pa naman kaming pormal na reklamo na natatanggap mula sa kanya (One of the reasons why we wanted to subpoena her is for her to formally state that there have been threats to her life),” he explained.
Santiago reminded “mandato namin, ng NBI, na pagka may threat sa Pangulo, Pangalawang Pangulo down hanggang sa Chief Justice, pati po mga media, primary jurisdiction ng NBI ‘yun (It’s the mandate of the NBI to investigate threats against the President, Vice President and down to the Chief Justice and even members of the media).”
He said the statements made by Duterte over the weekend constitute grave threats.
“Hindi ko sinasabi ‘yun na ang ikakaso namin but then isa po ‘yan sa element ng grave threat (I am not saying that it will be the one of the charges that we will be filing but what she did is one of the elements of grave threat),” he pointed out.
“May kondisyon na isasagawa mo ‘yun. Ang kondisyon ’pag s’ya ay napatay o s’ya ay namatay (A condition has to be set in doing it. The condition was if she gets killed or dies),” explained Santiago, a former judge and a police officer.
Santiago stressed “serious matter po ‘yan coming from the bibig ng ating pangalawang pinakamataas na pangulo (that’s a serious matter since it came from the mouth of the Vice President).”
“Alam naman natin napakainfluential n’ya very powerful s’ya kaya serious matter po ito (We know that Duterte is very influential and very powerful so we take this matter very seriously),” he stated.
Meanwhile, Santiago said the social media platform Facebook has granted the request of the NBI to preserve the video that showed Duterte making the threats.