QC prosecutor dismisses criminal raps vs ex-President Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — The Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed the criminal complaint filed by ACT Party-list Representative France Castro against former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte is facing a complaint for Grave Threat under Article 282 of the Revised Penal Code and Section 6 of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

It stemmed from his statements during a television program at Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) where he talked about the confidential fund of his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte.

READ: Criminal complaint filed vs. ex-President Duterte

In a resolution dated Jan. 9, 2024, the complaint was dismissed for “want of sufficient evidence.”

The prosecutor said the manner by which Duterte made the statements “do not convincingly establish that indeed respondent intended them to be taken seriously and that they were deliberately made for the purpose of creating in the mind of the complainant the belief that the threats will be carried into effect.”

In his Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa Program at SMNI that aired October 11, 2023, Duterte was quoted: “I told Inday (Sara) to be direct, tell them that the intelligence fund is meant to prepare the minds of the Filipinos, to address the insurgency that is taking a long time to end. And the ROTC so that we are prepared for war, especially in this situation, if we do not have soldiers, then we will have the youth who can take care of their respective barangays,” he explained.

“But your first target there, using your intelligence funds, is you, France [Castro], you communists who I want to kill. I asked her to tell them that, but she refused, saying, ‘You know Pa, if I did that, they might harass the PMTs (Philippine Military Training institutions),’” he added.

The QC prosecutor said the fact that Duterte made preliminaries and jokes when he was talking with the program host “only indicates that he is not that serious enough to really execute and materialize the threats allegedly conceived in his mind.”

It added that the statements uttered by Duterte were made at the height of the confidential fund issue that his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, was dragged into.

“Being the father of the Vice President, the respondent would naturally be disappointed and would come to the defense of his daughter in the midst of such political issues/attacks,” read the resolution.

“Besides, the Office finds it quite unusual, if not ridiculous, for a person to make a public pronouncement of death threats or perpetuate threatening remarks, utterances, or statements if he is that serious and deliberate enough in actualizing or effectuating such threats conceived in his mind,” the resolution further stated.

READ: Making Duterte answer to the law