Vice President Sara Duterte may face multiple criminal charges, aside from a disbarment complaint, over the death threats she publicly aired against President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Tuesday, Nov. 26.
“According to legal experts natin, pwede s’ya masampahan ng libel, defamation, maaari rin grave threats dahil sa mga banta n’ya (According to our legal experts, she could be charged with libel, defamation, grave threats for her threats),” said DOJ Undersecretary Margarita N. Gutierrez during PTV’s Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.
“At pinag-aaralan din yata ngayon ang pagsasampa ng disbarment laban kay VP Sara bilang s’ya ay isang abogado and it will be considered unethical ‘yung mga ginawa n’yang pagbabanta (The filing of a disbarment case is also being studied because she is a lawyer and her threats is considered unethical)," Gutierrez also revealed.
She confirmed that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has served its subpoena to Vice President Duterte on Tuesday at the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
“Ipinapatawag ng NBI si VP Sara para pagpaliwanagin sa mga inihayag na mga banta kamakailan (The NBI has summoned Duterte to explain the threats she made recently),” she explained.
“Bahagi ito ng malawakang imbestigasyon na ikinasa ng DOJ sa pangunguna ng NBI (This is part of the large-scale investigation initiated by the DOJ with the NBI taking the lead),” she added.
During a press conference held over the weekend, Duterte said she already gave instructions to someone, in the event she dies, to kill the President, the First Lady and the House Speaker.
Gutierrez assured that this assassin will immediately be arrested once he or she is identified by investigators.
“Inutusan ng DOJ ang NBI na gamitin ang lahat ng available na resources upang matukoy ang mga possibleng suspeks sa assassination plot na ipinahayag ni VP Sara (The DOJ has ordered the NBI to use all available resources to identify the suspects behind the assassination plot aired by the Vice President),” she said.