QC prosecutors dismiss Castro's grave threat complaint against Duterte
ACT-Teachers partylist Rep. France Castro's grave threat case against former president Rodrigo Duterte has been junked by the Quezon City Prosecutor's Office.
According to the 14-page decision obtained by The Philippine STAR, the complaint was dismissed due to insufficient evidence. Duterte's camp received the ruling on January 12.
“After a careful and judicious evaluation of the allegations and evidence obtaining in the complaint, the undersigned finds the same to be insufficient to indict respondents for the crime charged against him,” the decision read.
Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Ulric Badiola said that Castro's camp failed to establish that Duterte's threats were serious.
"If the intention of the respondent was really to intimidate and to take seriously such threatening remarks, and that his purpose was to create in the mind of the complainant the belief that the alleged threats will be carried into effect, he would not have taken so much prologues and would have just directly and immediately pronounced the threats conceived in his mind," Badiola stated.
Meanwhile, Castro issued a statement on Jan. 13 expressing her disappointment in the decision.
"I am dismayed over the reported junking of the grave threat case that I've filed against former President Rodrigo Duterte because it fails to recognize the fear that [the threats have] caused me and my family," Castro said in Filipino. "It's akin to denying me justice.
In November 2023, the ex-president faced his first criminal complaint since leaving the country's top post in June 2022. Castro sued Duterte over his statements on his Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa show on SMNI.
“Pero ang una mong target d’yan [sa] intelligence fund mo, kayo, ikaw France, kayong mga Komunista ang gusto kong patayin,” he said on air.
Duterte's show was slapped with a 14-day preventative suspension in December for violating Presidential Decree 1986 along with another show, Laban Kasama ng Bayan hosted by Lorraine Badoy and Jeffrey "Ka Eric" Celiz.