Castro asks DOJ to review prosecutors' decision to junk grave threat raps vs Duterte

House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro on Monday asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to review the Quezon City prosecutors' decision to junk her grave threat complaint against former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Quezon City prosecutors last month dismissed Castro's complaint against Duterte "for want of sufficient evidence," but according to her petition she was able to present enough "clear, positive and convincing evidence" to indict the former leader. 

"The complainant-appellant, representative France L. Castro, had indubitably presented proof through clear, positive and convincing evidence that there is probable cause to indict Respondent-Appellee Rodrigo Roa Duterte  of the felony Grave Threats under Article 282 of the Revised Penal Code, in relation to Section 6 of Republic Act No. 10175, otherwise known as 'The Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012,'" Castro's petition read.

The complaint, filed in October last year, stemmed from the October 11 and November 16, 2023 episodes of Duterte's show on SMNI where he supposedly linked Castro to communists rebels and said that he had wanted to kill communist rebels.

Castro said given such comments, the Quezon City prosecutors erred on dismissing the case based on what "appears" and not on the facts actually presented during the preliminary investigation.

"It is axiomatic that the one who alleges a fact has the burden of proving it and the proof should be clear, positive and convincing,” Castro said in her petition.

Castro then said that a careful and objective examination of the pieces of evidence she presented would lead to the conclusion that all the required elements of the crime of grave threats were met.

"In sum, Complainant-Appellant Castro respectfully prays that in the interest of substantive and procedural due process, this Honorable Office annul and set aside the Assailed Resolution and, in lieu thereof, render a Resolution finding probable cause against Respondent-Appellant Duterte and directing the Quezon City Office of the City Prosecutor to file the Information against the Respondent-Appellant," the petition said. 

Duterte had earlier denied threatening Castro. In his counter affidavit, he called the accusations "downright baseless, unfounded and grossly insufficient to satisfy the requirements of probable cause to indict me for the crime charged."

"It bears emphasizing that none of the requisite elements of the crime charged are present considering that I made no actual threat whatsoever to complainant Castro. In the first subject episode [cited in the complaint], I was merely recounting the conversation I had with my daughter, anent the proposed confidential funds of the Office of the Vice-President and the Department of Education," Duterte said in his counter affidavit filed in December.

Duterte said his remarks were only made in response to a question from a viewer amid rumors of the supposed plan to impeach his daughter, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte, and that the interview immediately proceeded with a discourse with lawyer Salvador Panelo on an entirely different matter. —KBK, GMA Integrated News