The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said on Wednesday their investigation would have been easier if Vice President Sara Duterte personally appeared before them to explain her side instead of a letter submitted by her counsel.
Duterte was re-scheduled to appear before the NBI on December 11, but decided to skip it again in a letter submitted by her lawyers. She was initially summoned to address her controversial remarks last November 29.
“With this letter, with the clippings on hand, with the interviews we had, we will collate it all, we will discuss for almost three weeks to formulate a report that will be fair for all involved in this incident,” said NBI Director Jaime Santiago said in a press conference.
Santiago also explained the letter is not the counter-affidavit they were looking for where she is the affiant. According to him, Duterte merely conformed to what her lawyers said.
He added the Vice President failed to specify details regarding any threat against her life. It was only a general appreciation that she was threatened six months ago.
The NBI is investigating the threat she made against the President and his relatives because Duterte herself delivered the same, he clarified.
Santiago, however, emphasized that the Vice President returned their courtesy by “sending lawyers and denying that she committed threats to the life of the President.”
Meanwhile, he noted the agency will start collating all the evidence and statements they have gathered, and his phone line will remain open for Duterte during the interim period.
The NBI chief underscored they will no longer set another date for her appearance. Santiago said they will be submitting their report to the Department of Justice (DOJ) by early January.