VP Duterte skips NBI probe, denies making threats in letter

NBI Director Jaime Santiago shows the letter submitted by the lawyer of Vice President Sara Duterte (Tetch Torres-Tupas / INQUIRER.net)

MANILA, Philippines (Updated) — Vice President Sara Duterte was again a no-show at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which is investigating her threat to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez assassinated if she too gets killed.

Instead, her lawyer submitted a letter stating that she denied threatening the President, the First Lady, and the House Speaker.

“Our client vehemently denies having made any threat constituting Grave Threats under Art. 282 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to Sec. 6, R.A. 10175, terrorism or any other punishable act under RA 11479, or any other crime,” NBI Director Jaime Santiago said, reading the letter sent by the lawyer.

“Since your office acknowledges that it has access to publicly available material on the internet, we are confident that the content and context of the entire press conference subject matter of your investigation will bear this out,” read the letter.

The letter was not under oath, although it was signed in conformity with the Vice President.

Santiago said the Vice President did not submit a counter-affidavit.

“We will just proceed with the investigation. Remember, we have the video clip of her press conference, and we subpoenaed several people and took their statements,” he added.

The NBI director said that after the interview with the media, they will proceed with evaluating the evidence they have and submit their recommendation to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in early January 2025.