DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 12 January) – The Office of the City Prosecutor in Quezon City has dismissed the complaint for grave threat filed by ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro against former President Rodrigo R. Duterte by October 24 for insufficient evidence.
In a 13-page resolution dated January 9 but only released on Friday, Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Rossana M. Montojo said there is no probable cause of the complaint against Duterte.
She said Castro filed her complaint based on the third form of grave threats under Article 282 of the Revised penal code, particularly “threatening another with infliction upon his person, honor or property or that of his family of any wrong amounting to crime, the threat not being subject to a condition.”
The resolution read in part: “the complainant (Castro) wanted to impress upon this Office that the threatening statements/utterances of the respondent (Duterte) posed danger to her life, liberty, and security and that due to such threat she now lives in constant fear that she might eventually become the next victim of extrajudicial killing, forced disappearance, illegal arrest or detention which respondent repeatedly admitted having perpetrated in the past.”
But the prosecutor also explained that the probable cause should at least be more than mere suspicion, although the quantum of proof is lower compared with judicial proceedings to sustain conviction.
Castro questioned the “unauthorized allocation” of the confidential fund amounting to P125 million to Vice President Sara Duterte in 2022 and a P650-million confidential fund for 2024 during a budget hearing in the House of Representatives last year.
The complaint was filed following an episode of Duterte’s “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa” program aired over Sonshine Media Network International where the former President said that Castro would be the “first target” of the confidential fund of his daughter, the vice president, who heads the Department of Education in concurrent capacity.
He said the fund was needed in the operations of his daughter’s offices.
Castro also alleged that Duterte made “several statements and insinuations linking her to the communist armed movement.” (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
