QC prosecutor junks grave threats complaint vs ex-Pres. Duterte | ABS-CBN

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QC prosecutor junks grave threats complaint vs ex-Pres. Duterte

QC prosecutor junks grave threats complaint vs ex-Pres. Duterte

ABS-CBN News

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Updated Jan 12, 2024 06:49 PM PHT

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President Rodrigo Duterte attends the
President Rodrigo Duterte attends the "Salamat PRRD" thanksgiving concert at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila on June 26, 2022. Karl Alonzo, Presidential Photo

MANILA — The Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed the grave threats complaints filed by ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro against former President Rodrigo Duterte.

In a resolution dated January 9, 2024, the prosecutor said there was no enough evidence to charge Duterte in court.

The resolution said that the complaint failed to establish that Duterte intended his alleged threats, which were televised and livestreamed, to be taken seriously.

It said Duterte "would have just directly and immediately pronounced the threats" if he wanted to intimidate Castro. Instead, Duterte uttered the supposed threat in between side stories, "sarcastic" jokes and banter with the program host.

"Besides, the Office finds it quite unusual, if not ridiculous for a person to make public pronouncement of death threats...especially so considering that such individual, like [the] respondent, is already in an advance age and not anymore immune from criminal prosecution," it added.

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Duterte skipped the probe into the complaint twice.

In her original complaint-affidavit, Castro claimed Duterte threatened her life with his statements in an October 11 episode of his TV program Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa on the SMNI News Channel.

In that episode, Duterte shared his advice to his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, on how to use her confidential and intelligence funds.

“Pero ang una mong target d’yan [sa] intelligence fund mo, kayo, ikaw France, kayong mga Komunista ang gusto kong patayin,” he said.

While the statement only mentioned “France,” Castro said the former president’s remarks were made in reaction to her scrutiny of the confidential funds of the Vice President that led to the realignment of P650 million worth of confidential and intelligence funds in the 2024 budget.

Castro filed a supplement complaint-affidavit alleging that Duterte again threatened her life on his TV program “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa” which aired on SMNI on November 16.

In a written deposition, Duterte said, "There was never any deliberate intent on my part to single out and threaten complainant Castro."

Duterte said his statements on Castro were just his "opinion and meant only to express... personal suggestion" to his daughter.

Castro said she had yet to receive a copy of the decision and could not yet comment. She said she would consult with her lawyers.

Duterte often threatened to kill people, including drug dealers and rights activists, when he was president from 2016 to 2022.

He also frequently labelled critics as communist sympathizers -- a practice known as "red-tagging", which can result in the arrest, detention or even death of the person targeted.

— With a report from Agence France-Presse

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