Duterte wants incitement to sedition, grave threat raps junked

Metro Manila, Philippines - Vice President Sara Duterte wants the incitement to sedition and grave threat complaints filed against her dismissed.

Duterte appeared at the Department of Justice office in Manila at 2 p.m., heeding the summons of the Office of the Prosecutor General for the preliminary investigation. She refused to answer media queries upon her lawyers’ advice.

After the proceedings, her lawyers Michael Poa and Paul Lim said the vice president took an oath before the panel of prosecutors and submitted her counter-affidavit.

“Kauna-unahang araw ng preliminary investigation, siya ay nagpakita agad at nagbigay ng kanyang counter-affidavit na naglalahad ng kanyang mga dahilan kung bakit dapat hindi ipagpatuloy at ibasura na lang ang mga paratang na reklamo laban sa kanya,” Lim said.

[Translation: First day of the preliminary investigation, she showed up and gave her counter-affidavit which states her reasons why the complaints against her should be dismissed.]

“Consistent lang naman po ang ating vice president. Lagi naman niya sinasabi noon na haharapin naman talaga niya sa mga tamang venue ‘yung mga binabatong accusation laban sa kanya, which ginawa niya,” said Poa.

[Translation: Our vice president is consistent. She has been saying she will address the accusations in proper venues, which she did.]

Before the investigation, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla assured Duterte that she will be granted due process.

“No problem with due process. We respect the office, that’s the most important,” Remulla told reporters in a chance interview.

Poa said extending due process is the minimum.

“We expect due process, not just for the vice president pero kahit sino man lang na dumadaan sa [but to anyone undergoing] preliminary investigation,” he said.

The prosecutor general’s probe is based on the National Bureau of Investigation recommendation to file incitement to sedition and grave threat charges against Duterte over her remarks that she has talked to someone to murder President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she gets killed first.