Malacañang has distanced itself from the criminal charges the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed against Vice President Duterte, saying it will let the Department of Justice (DOJ) handle the matter.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said this after the NBI filed charges of  Inciting to Sedition and Grave Threats against the Vice President after her public declaration that she had supposedly contracted someone to kill President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez should a plan to assassinate her succeeded.

In an interview, Bersamin said they knew the developments and would allow the process to run its course.

"We are aware of that but we are going to let the process proceed on its own because this is about a criminal investigation," he said.

"The Department of Justice will have the fullest autonomy. You cannot give directions as far as these matters go," he added.

Meanwhile, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile said that while he believes no criminal charges could be made against the Vice President for her statements as they were "conditional," both sides must take caution as "evil third parties" might take advantage of their rift to advance their interests.

"Evil and vicious third parties could merrily take advantage of the situation and weaken, if not destroy, the two sides of the political divide," he said.

"Even some ambitious members of each political group could take advantage of it to strengthen and promote their personal interest, whatever that is," he added.

The 101-year-old political explained that Vice President Duterte's statement has serious underlying implications that carry the principle of a criminal case: a guilty act and a guilty mind.

"In the aforesaid statement of Sara, the guilty act is the command—'patayin mo si BBM. si Liza Araneta, at si Martin Romualdez,' And the guilty mind is to avenge Sara's killing, should it happen," Enrile said.

"If an attempt against Sara's life should happen, but did not succeed, BBM, Liza, and Martin would be the immediate and direct suspects, even though they are innocent, which would further widen the political disruption between the two sides," he added.