Davao City First District Representative Paolo Duterte on Thursday lambasted ACT Teachers Representative France Castro and stressed that the female lawmaker is "sensationalizing" the issue with his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte retaliated at Castro — who filed a grave threat case against the former President — for her swift retaliation against his remark that "public servants should not be onion-skinned."

"I just wish that your passion to sensationalize this further is the same as your passion to protect the farmers and innocent victims who were killed and victims of the NPAs," Duterte told Castro.

The Davao First District representative made the remark in response to Castro's latest tirades against his father that the former President's statement was far from a legitimate criticism and is seen as an alleged threat.

To recall, Castro sued the ex-President before the Quezon City Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday after threatening to kill her and "all you communists" on a television program.

Castro, a member of the Makabayan bloc, stressed that "this is a crime against a person" and that "Duterte's threats should stop."

"Death threats and red-tagging aired on television must be stopped because it endangers the lives of people. It is far different from criticisms and should not be tolerated because it fosters the state of impunity," Castro said.

Duterte, meantime, defended his father, accusing Castro of using her right to silence critics.

"The former President has received much harsher and humiliating criticisms in the past but never filed a case against anyone. As public servants, we all are under scrutiny by the Filipino people," Duterte said.

"If the former President has said something that threatened her, then maybe she should come out clean. It's not that we hide behind this so-called 'right,'" he added. "You filed a case; let the court look at the merits. Simple as that. Like what I've said, it is your right. But I heard worse."

Castro has been on the receiving end of the Dutertes' tirades following the crusade of the Makabayan bloc to strip Vice President Sara Duterte's office and the Department of Education, which she concurrently heads, of P650 million in confidential funds from the proposed 2024 budget.

The former President said that Castro would have been the "first target" of his daughter's intelligence fund.

The OVP and DepEd were among the five civilian agencies, namely the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Department of Information and Communications Technology, awarded zero confidential funds for next year.

With Prexx Trozo