On Tuesday, House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro filed a complaint for grave threat against former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Castro, along with her legal representatives Tony Laviña and Rico Domingo from the Movement Against Disinformation (MAD), submitted the complaint to the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.
“Na-shock talaga ako sa threat sa aking buhay ni former President Duterte. Tingin natin hinggil ito sa pagbusisi natin sa confidential funds na nagbunga ng pagtatanggal ng confidential funds ng iba’t ibang ahensiya,” Castro said.
“He lost his immunity [when his tenure as President ended]. Hindi na siya makakapagtago (he can no longer hide). Dapat matigil na itong gawi ni dating Presidente Duterte. This has to stop,” she added.
Duterte is accused of issuing the alleged threat during an interview with SMNI three weeks ago, in which he referred to Castro as a communist.
“Kayong mga komunista ang gusto kong patayin,” Duterte had said.
“Sabi ko sa kanya [his daughter, the Vice President], magprangka ka na lang. Itong intelligence fund na ito gagamitin ko para sa utak ng mga Pilipino kasi ito ang target ko, kayong mga komunista andiyan sa Congress. Prangkahin mo na ‘yan si France Castro,’” the former president further added.
Grave threat complaint filed vs. ex-President Duterte
“Respondent Duterte threatened to inflict a wrong amounting to a crime upon my person and honor. Such wrong amounted to either homicide or murder, both of which are crimes against persons penalized under Title Eight, Section Three (Threats and coercion) of the Revised Penal Code, specifically Article 248 (Murder) or Article 249 (Homicide),” Castro’s complaint read.
“The grave threats made by Respondent Duterte to kill me does not impose any other condition; and the grave threats were committed by, through and with the use of information and communication technologies, namely, computers, computer systems, mobile phones, sky cable and social media which were employed to create the content, and upload/publish and then broadcast/distribute the same,” she added.
Duterte made the comment while defending the allocation of P650 million in confidential funds for the Office of the Vice President and P150 million for the Department of Education, both led by his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte. This justification came in response to the House’s decision to reallocate the P1.23 billion confidential fund in the proposed 2024 national budget.
Leaders of all political parties in the House of Representatives criticized the former president for the threat last week.
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