spot_img
29 C
Philippines
Thursday, March 28, 2024

DOJ to file sedition raps vs teacher; 3 others arrested for ‘kill order’

- Advertisement -

The Justice department said Thursday it had found enough basis to file sedition charges against Ronnel Mas for offering, via his social media account, a P50-million reward to anyone who would kill President Rodrigo Duterte.

National Prosecution Service Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento said the charges would be filed against Mas, a 25-year-old public school teacher, before a court in Zambales next week.

He said Mas would remain in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation.

Mas, a teacher from Santa Cruz, Zambales, was arrested on May 11 after he allegedly posted on Twitter via the account “@RonPrince” the message “I will give 50 Million reward kung sino makakapatay kay Duterte #NotoABSCBNShutDown”.

Mas reportedly cried and apologized for his post, but Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said his apology would not exculpate him from his criminal liability.

- Advertisement -

The Presidential Security Group said Thursday there were no direct threats against Duterte, adding the President had “total security.”

The group made the statement after the arrest of two other people in Aklan and Cebu who offered reward money in their Facebook posts to any person who could kill the President.

The NBI also arrested a woman who created a fake account and used her husband’s name to threaten to kill Duterte.

Meanwhile, the NBI has summoned Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Deputy Administrator Mocha Uson to explain the “fake news” she had sent out to the public, an official confirmed Thursday.

“Yes, she is being investigated by our CCD [cybercrime division] for fake news,” NBI Deputy Director Ferdinand Lavin said.

He said the bureau subpoenaed Uson as part of an investigation into “fake news” that was ordered by Guevarra, and that there were complainants against her.

He said Uson was required to appear before the NBI on May 18 over her post about personal protective equipment.

In early April, Uson, who runs a widely followed Facebook page, published a post on the delivery of some 15,000 sets of PPEs purchased by the Health department.

One of the photos she used in the post, however, turned out to be one from the SM Foundation.

Uson apologized the following day for the “misleading content.”

Since joining the government, Uson had been slapped with a string of complaints.

In April 2018, Uson, while still with the Presidential Communications Operations Office, was sued for allegedly spreading misinformation through a blog post in November 2016 that said students from St. Scholastica’s College were required to attend a protest rally.

Then, in September of the same year, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV lodged multiple criminal complaints against her for allegedly spearheading the spread of fake news over his supposed offshore bank accounts.

The same month, Uson also faced a complaint at the Office of the Ombudsman for supposedly mocking the sign language widely used by the deaf community. Uson again later apologized.

The following month, Uson resigned from her post but later secured a post at the OWWA.

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles