The Philippines’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has recommended that criminal charges be filed against Vice President Sara Duterte over allegations she threatened to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr assassinated.
“We have finally recommended the filing of inciting to sedition and grave threats against the vice president,” NBI Director Jaime Santiago said in a radio interview with DZBB on Wednesday.
“We have submitted this to the [Department of Justice] and they will weigh the evidence, whether they will conduct a preliminary investigation on the matter,” he added.
Speaking with journalists through her media officer, Duterte simply said the NBI’s decision was “as expected”.
Duterte – the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, a divisive figure known for his bombastic rhetoric and deadly war on drugs during his six-year rule from 2016 to 2022 – is embroiled in a long-running row with her former ally President Marcos.
The pair achieved a landslide victory in the country’s 2022 national elections after joining together as running mates. But their powerful families have clashed in the years since, accusing one another, without providing evidence, of drug abuse.
In June, Duterte also stepped down from her role as education secretary – a post she held along with the vice presidency – saying she felt “used” by Marcos.
As vice president, she remains Marcos’s constitutional successor in the event he is unable to complete his term.
The case against Duterte stems from comments she made in November suggesting that she had ordered someone to kill Marcos, along with his wife and cousin – the parliament speaker – if any potential plot to assassinate her should be successful.
Marcos, the son of former Philippine strongman President Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled the country from 1965 to 1986, promised to act against the “troubling” public threat made against him by his vice president.
Duterte later described her instruction as a “plan without flesh”, and emphasised to reporters that the main condition of her plan was that she be killed first.
“Common sense should be enough for us to understand and accept that a supposed conditional act of revenge does not constitute an active threat,” Duterte said.
“My question now to the administration: Is revenge from the grave a crime?” she said.
Duterte is also facing a separate investigation over her alleged misuse of millions of dollars worth of government funds while serving as vice president and education minister.
The Philippine lower house impeached Duterte last week over the assassination threats, as well as on charges of violating the constitution and corruption.
Al Jazeera correspondent Barnaby Lo says that any evidence gathered against Duterte by prosecutors, should they proceed with the criminal case, can and will be used by the Senate during her impeachment trial. The date for that hearing is yet to be set, but it is expected to take place in June or July, Lo added.
Despite the mounting cases against her, Duterte said she is considering a run for the presidency during the general election in May.
