CIDG chief files inciting to sedition complaint vs. Duterte

Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief Police Major General Nicolas Torre III has filed before the Department of Justice a complaint against former President Rodrigo Duterte over the latter's "kill" remark against incumbent senators.

Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, the Duterte administration's first PNP chief and now running for reelection under Duterte's PDP Laban party, has said the former Chief Executive was only joking.

In an ambush interview, Torre said the complaint he filed for case build-up was for unlawful utterances and inciting to sedition.

“Alam niyo bagong Pilipinas na, eh. Hindi na pwede ‘yung mga gano'ng statements na kinabukasan joke only na lang,” Torre said.

(This is a new Philippines. These kinds of statements that are passed off as jokes the next morning are no longer allowed.)

“Hanggang ngayon ba naman dadalhin natin ang gulo na ‘yan na puro patay-patay na lang? Tapos if they will be taken on their word, bigla na lang sasabihin na joke only. Or ang latest naman na palusot is he’s only expressing a legal opinion,” he added.

(Are we still going to continue this chaos of killing? And if they are taken on their word, they would just pass it off as a joke. Or the latest excuse is that he’s only expressing a legal opinion.) 

During the PDP-Laban proclamation rally, Duterte said all PDP-Laban candidates would get a seat in the Senate if 15 senators were killed.

"Patayin natin ‘yung mga senador ngayon para mabakante. Kung makapatay tayo ng mga 15 na senador, pasok na tayong lahat... Talking of opportunities, the only way to do it is pasabugin na lang natin,” he had said. 

(Let’s kill the senators now to vacate the seats. If we can eliminate 15 senators, we can all get in... Talking of opportunities, the only way to do it was to blow them up.)

Joke

Sought for comment, former presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo called the filing “foolish,” saying Duterte was joking. 

“Ano ba itong bansa natin? Hindi ka na pwedeng mag biro? Magbibiro ka lang ba fa-file-an ka na ng kaso? Wala ba tayong demokrasya?” he said.

(What is this country? Are you no longer allowed to joke? If you joke, will a complaint be filed against you? Is there no democracy in this country?)

Panelo said Duterte’s remark was an acknowledgment of the strength of the other senatorial candidates. 

He added that the senators themselves did not react to the statements.

However, the CIDG chief stressed that Duterte’s words may be taken seriously by his supporters, saying this has happened during the Duterte administration’s drug war.

“Nangyari na ‘yan eh, diba? Sabi niya pagpapatayin ang mga— diba? Pagpapatayin ang mga adik. Nangyari nga. Marami ngang nag patayan,” Torre said.

(This happened before already, right? He said that some people— addicts should be killed. And it happened. There was a lot of killing.)

The CIDG chief said he filed the complaint in his capacity as the director of the CIDG, a Filipino citizen, and a policeman.

Meanwhile, Torre denied that he has any political motive, saying that it is “beyond politics.”

“Ang nakalagay doon sa statement ay maliwanag na enumeration ng violation of laws na nakasulat sa ating mga batas. Hindi pu-pwedeng lapastanganin na lang ‘yun ng ganon-ganon na lang, lalo na ng isang tao na palaging nasa limelight,” he said.

(What is in that statement is a clear enumeration of violations of laws. These can’t just be violated, especially by someone always in the limelight.) –NB, GMA Integrated News