NBI admits to start from scratch on probing threat vs VP Sara Duterte

THE GLOVES ARE OFF. By now, Vice President Sara Duterte is unafraid to show this much hostility toward President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his allies during a press conference on Oct. 17, 2024 where she threatened to exhume his father’s remains. — LYN RILLON

MANILA, Philippines — National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Jaime Santiago has admitted that they will be starting from scratch when it comes to investigating the threat to the life of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Santiago made the statement to reporters after only the Vice President’s lawyer appeared during the rescheduled probe into death threats to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez as well as the death threat to Duterte.

“We are mandated to step in and investigate the threats to them, president down to the chief justice. But she did not specify who, what is the threat, and she doesn’t have a proof,” Santiago said.

In the letter sent to the NBI by Duterte’s lawyers, they said they are hoping that the agency would investigate the matter with the “same attention and vigor.”

Santiago said another reason why they needed to talk to the Vice President was to ask for details about the threats to her life.

He pointed out that the difference between the threat to the Vice President’s life and that of the President, First Lady, and the House Speaker was that for the latter, the information came from Duterte herself.

In a press conference last November, Duterte said if something happened to her, she had already talked to someone who agreed to kill Marcos, the first lady, and Romualdez.

“You might ask, why are you investigating this threat from the VP to the President? Well, she herself said it. We know who made the threat. Whereas the threat against the Vice President, we don’t know who made it,” Santiago explained.

Santiago added that the Vice President is still welcome to reach out to him in case she changes her mind.