Palace Draws Distinction: Ordinary Citizen Jailed Over Threat, Sara Duterte Defended

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang contrasted the alleged grave threats made by Vice President Sara Duterte with a previous case involving a public school teacher, saying that while both raised national security concerns, only the ordinary citizen was immediately held liable. The case of the public school teacher was first brought up by the House prosecutors earlier this week, arguing that the vice president should be held to the same standard of accountability in her impeachment trial. Palace Press Officer Claire Castro commented on the matter during a press briefing on Wednesday, July 15, saying the key difference between the two cases was that the ordinary citizen was immediately penalized. Castro claimed that Duterte is being protected by some lawmakers. “Kung 'yung isa ay pinakulong, wala pang kausap, wala pang nagsasang-ayon sa pagbalak na patayin ang dating pangulo Duterte. Pero ang bise presidente natin may nakausap, may sumang-ayon, nagkaroon ng kumpletong agreement at ngayon ay ipagtatanggol pa ng ibang mga senador,” Castro said. (The other one was jailed, even without contacting someone, without anyone agreeing to kill former president Duterte. But our vice president had spoken to someone, there was an agreement, and now some senators are even protecting her.) Castro said the alleged grave threats made by the vice president and the public school teacher were wrong because they constituted a national security threat. Ronnel Mas, the teacher, was arrested by authorities in 2020 after posting on Twitter, now X, that he would offer a P50 million reward to anyone who could kill former president Rodrigo Duterte, the vice president's father, who is now detained at the International Criminal Court over alleged crimes against humanity. The vice president, meanwhile, said during a livestreamed online press conference in November 2024 that she had already spoken to someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez in the event of her death. Castro said that while the two cases shared similarities, the ordinary citizen who was immediately arrested had not even contacted anyone to carry out the threat. “Biro man ito o hindi, may kakayahan man siya na i-produce ang 50 million, wala pa siyang kausap. Nag-aalok pa lang. So wala pang meeting of the minds. Pero kay Vice President Sara Duterte, inamin niya mismo sa video na may kausap siya at sumang-ayon. No joke, no joke,” Castro said. (Even if it is a joke or not, even if he had the capacity to produce the P50 million, he had not contacted anyone. He was just making the offer. So there was no meeting of the minds yet. But in Vice President Duterte's case, she admitted in the video that she had already spoken to someone and that the person agreed. No joke, no joke.) Castro also responded to the arguments of Duterte's defense lawyers, who claimed that the vice president's alleged assassination remarks were not threats but merely a response to a question raised during the online press conference. She added that the remarks could not be treated as a "simple case" that could merely be filed before the courts. “Hindi po ito simpleng grave threats. Ang pinag-uusapan natin dito ay buhay ng pangulo, buhay ng head of state ng Pilipinas. At ang nagbabanta ay hindi rin simpleng tao, bise presidente na umamin na siya ay mayroong kakilalang killer,” Castro said. (This is not a simple case of grave threats. What we are talking about here is the life of the president, the life of the head of state of the Philippines. And the person making the threat is not an ordinary individual but a vice president who admitted she knows a killer.) Castro again said that Duterte's camp was not denying the alleged threats but was instead trying to justify them by pointing to what prompted the vice president to make the remarks. “Hindi pa ba assassination plot ang pinagsasabi ng bise presidente noon? Kung hindi, ano 'yun? So kung hindi ito assassination plot at walang pagbabanta sa buhay, ano ang ginawa ng bise presidente? (Are the vice president's remarks not an assassination plot? If not, then what are they? So if that is not an assassination plot and there was no threat to anyone's life, then what did the vice president do?) The alleged grave threats are currently being tackled before the Senate impeachment court and are expected to be the subject of 11 trial days. The Senate has allotted 92 trial days for the impeachment proceedings, with Duterte facing four Articles of Impeachment, including allegations of betrayal of public trust, misuse of confidential funds, graft and corruption, and bribery. Only one guilty vote on any of the articles is needed to convict Duterte, although a conviction requires the votes of two-thirds of the senator-judges.