By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan
MANILA – Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief Maj. Gen. Nicholas Torre III on Tuesday said neither the Senate nor Malacañang instructed him to file complaints of inciting to sedition and unlawful utterances against former President Rodrigo Duterte over his remarks to kill senators.
“Hindi namin kailangan ang Senado, hindi namin kailangan ang Malacañang dito para mai-file ang kaso na ito (There is no need for the Senate, Malacañang here to file this case). I don’t think Malacañang should get involved in this dahil ito naman ay (because this is) pure law enforcement. Ang pulis ay law enforcer, so may nakikita tayong violation of law (The police are law enforcers, so we see) violation of law,” Torre said in a press briefing at Camp Crame.
Torre said PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil gave his approval for the filing of charges against Duterte.
“I informed the PNP Chief Gen. Rommel Marbil] that I’ll be filing the cases and he said, ‘Go ahead, do your job.’ Trabaho ko ito eh (This is my job),” Torre said.
“I’ll be remiss kung hindi ako mag-file ng kaso at ibang tao ang mag-file ng kaso na ito. Nakakahiya naman sa PNP ‘yun ‘pag inunahan tayo ng ibang tao mag-file sa kitang-kita naman na violation ng isang tao na palaging may nakatutok na camera (I’ll be remiss if I don’t file a case and someone else will do. It’s a shame for the PNP when someone else would file before we did for an obvious violation by a person who always has a camera pointed at him),” Torre added.
On Monday, Torre filed complaints for inciting sedition and unlawful utterances against Duterte as part of a “case buildup” before the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“Napakarami kasi ng kanyang mga sinabi, napakahaba, napakarami rin ng mga enumerations ko doon sa complaint na ginawa ko (He said so many things that were so long, I had also so many enumerations in the complaint I made). So I’ll just leave it up to the prosecutors to evaluate kung alin ang kanilang ielevate sa husgado for trial at alin ang kanilang ididismiss kung meron man silang ididismiss (what they will elevate for court trial and what they will dismiss),” he Torre said.
He said the cases filed by the CIDG before DOJ do not need a private a complainant.
“Alam naman natin lahat at nakikita natin sa social media kung ano ang kanyang ginawa, inevaluate namin, yun ang finile namin sa DOJ (We all know and we see on social media what he did, we are evaluating, that’s what we filed),” he added.
Torre said the former president’s remarks should not be taken lightly, adding that it is time for Duterte to be “held accountable” for his statements.
He further criticized Duterte for failing to fulfill his promises to police personnel who followed his orders during the implementation of his controversial drug war from 2016 to 2022.
“Bakit kailangan i-justify na tama ang mga ginawa ng mga pulis noong time ni Duterte? Hindi ba may pangako siya? Anong pangako niya? Sagot niya lahat, hindi ba? Ano yun, joke ulit? Hindi ba may sinabi siya puwede ka mang-rape sagot ko yan ako’y magpapakulong ng sarili ko. Joke ulit yun? (Why is it necessary to justify what the police did during Duterte’s time? Doesn’t he have a promise? What did he promise? He’ll take responsibility everything he said, didn’t he? What’s that, joke again? Didn’t he say you can rape, he’ll take responsibility by going to jail. Was it a joke also?),” Torre said.
Duterte previously talked about killing 15 senators to create vacancies for the candidates he is endorsing in the May 12 midterm elections.
Duterte’s former presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo argued that the former leader was merely joking.
Torre maintained that Duterte’s utterance about killing people is “not a joking matter.”
“Hindi naman puwede yan, Bagong Pilipinas na. Sumunod tayo sa batas dahil Bagong Pilipinas na. Kung noon tinolerate ‘yung mga ganyang mga shortcuts, sa ngayon hindi uubra yan sa ating Presidente (It should be stopped, it’s New Philippines already. Let’s obey the law because it’s a new Philippines. If those shortcuts were tolerated before, right now that won’t work for our President),” Torre said. (PNA)
