'As expected': VP Sara not surprised by NBI recommendation on sedition, grave threat raps

Vice President Sara Duterte had a curt response to the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) recommendation to file sedition and grave threats charges against her.
 

Vice President Sara Duterte (Santi San Juan/MANILA BULLETIN)

“As expected,” her office quoted her as saying when asked by reporters for a reaction on Wednesday, Feb. 12.
 

The NBI on Wednesday recommended the filing of criminal complaints of inciting to sedition and grave threat against the Vice President for saying in an online press conference that she had already hired someone to assassinate President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she herself gets killed.
 

This is a criminal process that will be turned over to a prosecution team by the Department of Justice (DOJ), who can either dismiss the recommendation or subpoena the Vice President.
 

Last year, Duterte was a no-show when asked to give a statement about her remarks during the Zoom press conference.
 

She instead sent a letter to NBI Director Jaime Santiago through her lawyer to state her denial.
 

In the said Zoom press conference in November of last year, a visibly angry Duterte lashed at the President’s family—his wife Liza and his cousin, the Speaker—after the House committee on good government detained her chief-of-staff, Office of the Vice President (OVP) Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez.
 

This was amid the inquiries into the OVP’s and Department of Education’s (DepEd) use of confidential funds during Duterte’s tenure as secretary.
 

Lopez admitted in one of the sessions that she asked the Commission on Audit (COA) not to heed a subpoena on audit reports on the OVP’s liquidation documents regarding its confidential funds.
 

Duterte and Marcos had a falling out after running in the 2022 elections under the UniTeam tandem and won in a landslide.