DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 25 October)—Davao City’s 1st District Representative Paolo Duterte took a swipe at ACT Teachers Partylist Representative France Castro for filing a criminal complaint of “grave treat” against former President Rodrigo R. Duterte at the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday.
In a statement released Wednesday, the younger Duterte said that public servants should not be “onion-skinned” by using this right to file a complaint as a tool to silence critics.
He claimed that his father received much harsher criticisms during his six-year-term as president but did not file a case against his critics.
“As public servants, we all are under scrutiny by the Filipino people,” he said.
Castro said on national TV that she filed a case against the former president because of his “grave threat” hurled against her, which she said was due to her opposition against the confidential funds—among them for the Office of Vice President Sara Duterte and the Department of Education, which she concurrently heads—that resulted in the realignment of such funds to other government agencies.
The former president, during his program “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa” over Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI News) on October 10, said: “Ikaw France, kayong mga Komunista ang gusto kong patayin [You France, you communists, are the ones I want to kill].”
“Now we know that former President Rodrigo Duterte lost his immunity from suit. Hindi na sya makakapagtago. Kailangang harapin na nya ang accountability dito sa ginawa nyang matinding pagbabanta sa aking buhay [He cannot hide anymore. He needs to face accountability for his grave threat against my life],” Castro said.
“If he can threaten me, an elected official and Representative [of Congress], what more can he do to ordinary people? … This has to stop,” she added.
The younger Duterte challenged Castro to “come out clean” if she was threatened by the remarks of the former president over SMNI News.
While defending the necessity of a confidential fund for the Office of the Vice President and Department of Education, the former president remarked that Castro would be the “first target” of the confidential fund of his daughter.
“Di yung nagtatago tayo sa likod ng so-called right na ito. As a congressman myself, madami din akong alam sa maka-kaliwang mga partylist representatives. Tigilan na lang natin ang kadramahan at pagpapa-media (Let’s not hide behind this so-called right. As a congressman myself, I also know a lot about the leftist partylist representatives. Let’s just stop the drama and media attention),” he said.
A complaint was filed against the former president under Article 282 of the Revised Penal Code and Section 6 of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
Article 282 punishes “any person who shall threaten another with the infliction upon the person, honor or property of the latter or of his family of any wrong amounting to a crime.”
Meanwhile, Section 6 imposes a harsher penalty if the alleged crime is committed “through and with the use of information and communications technologies.” (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
