The Department of Justice (DOJ) will issue a subpoena to Vice President Sara Duterte to clarify her comments regarding an assassination threat against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez, according to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
In a Palace briefing on Monday, November 25, NBI chief Jaime Santiago stated on Monday that there is solid evidence against Duterte, as her claim of having instructed someone to kill the First Couple in the event of her death has been verified.
“Hindi namin agad inaresto si Vice President dahil siya ay napakataas na opisyal. We are giving her a chance, due process to answer ano ang binibintang sa kaniya,” Santiago said.
Once the subpoena is issued on Monday, Santiago said Vice President Duterte will have five days to respond. Should she refuse to cooperate, government agencies are confident they can gather sufficient evidence to pursue appropriate charges against her.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has also identified Duterte as the “mastermind” behind a plot to assassinate the president.
“The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind will now face legal consequences,” DOJ Undersecretary Jesse Andres said.
“We will use all resources of government, all government agents to find out the identity of this assassin, and they will be dealt with the full force of the law,” Andres added.
Although Duterte argued that her statement about the kill plot, made during a live online press conference over the weekend, was “maliciously taken out of logical context,” Andres emphasized that the vice president’s remark is still considered a “serious threat.”
This is not the first instance of her expressing intentions to harm the president, Andres added.
In October, Duterte expressed that she wanted to cut off Marcos Jr.’s head after he declined to give his watch to a student during a graduation ceremony they both attended.
The NBI has also requested that Facebook “preserve” the video in which Duterte discussed her assassination plan against Marcos Jr., according to Santiago.
“Kung hindi sila tumugon, wala tayong magagawa kung hindi sundin ang batas,” he said. (TCSP)
