PNP mulls pressing criminal charges against Duterte

📷Former Pres. and KOJC properties administrator Rodrigo ‘Digong” Duterte

WITHOUT an immunity that he once had, former President Rodrigo Duterte just might end up spending some time behind bars following the admission of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on an investigation looking into his possible criminal liability for harboring a fugitive.

“Did he say this to tease people he was talking to, or was it just a joke?,” according to PNP public information officer Col. Jean Fajardo in reference to the context of the former President’s statement.

She particularly hinted at the PNP legal department’s effort to study whether or not Duterte’s statement would warrant the filing of a complaint against him for obstruction of justice or harboring a fugitive.

“We need to obtain the entire context of the conversation, because a person who knows the whereabouts of a wanted man (but would not disclose the fugitive’s whereabouts) is liable for obstruction of justice,” Fajardo said.

Previously, Duterte Duterte made a categorical claim that he knows where his friend Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) leader Apollo Quiboloy is hiding, but would rather not divulge the latter’s location.

“If the question is, ‘Where is the pastor?’ I know where, but it’s a secret,” Duterte, who was earlier appointed as the administrator of Quiboloy’s assets, said in an ambush interview with local newsmen in Tacloban city.

He added then that Quiboloy, who has several standing arrest warrants for sexual and child abuse and human trafficking cases, is neither bent on surfacing or surrendering to the authorities.

“He does not want to surrender. So, don’t surrender,” he added.

The police searched the KOJC compound several times in an attempt to serve the arrest warrants against the controversial televangelist and his co-accused – all efforts of which failed.

Duterte also condemned the latest attempt to serve the warrants, which he described as an “overkill.” (ANGEL F. JOSE)