Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla said Monday it was up to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to decide whether or not to probe former President Rodrigo Duterte for his alleged threat against senators.

Remulla explained that the NBI has the authority to act on its own initiative (motu proprio) and does not need a directive from him to investigate Duterte for his statements.

“You know, we’re used to the language of the former president. Not all that he says should be taken literally,” Remulla said in Filipino.

He added that the Department of Justice (DoJ) would only act on the matter if the senators themselves file complaints, as they are the ones supposedly endangered by Duterte’s remarks.

NBI Director Jaime Santiago echoed Remulla’s sentiments, saying that the former president’s statements were merely “rhetorical” and part of his party’s political discourse.

He said the NBI would investigate Duterte only if the senators filed formal complaints.

“If any senator believes they were personally threatened, they should file a complaint,” Santiago said.

Remulla and Santiago made the statements in response to calls for an NBI probe into Duterte’s remarks at a Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) rally on 13 February.

During the event, Duterte said, “There are too many senatorial candidates, let’s kill some senators to make room.”

The controversy followed the NBI’s recent filing of inciting to sedition and grave threat charges against Vice President Sara Duterte.

The charges stemmed from her remarks during a press conference last November where she said that if she were killed, she had ordered someone to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

‘Clearly joking’

Remulla clarified that charges were filed against the Vice President because she specifically named individuals in her threats. Santiago supported this, noting that VP Duterte explicitly stated, “No joke, no joke.”

“What the Vice President did was different from what her father did. The former president was clearly joking,” Santiago explained.

On Sunday, administration lawmakers urged the NBI to investigate the former president for his statement, arguing that it was reckless and dangerous.

Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong criticized former president Duterte, warning that such rhetoric could encourage individuals to take matters into their own hands.

“We have seen before how rhetoric like this can embolden individuals to take action, often with tragic consequences. When public figures normalize threats of violence, they create a dangerous environment where words can translate to real harm,” Adiong said.

He dismissed Duterte’s defense that the statement was a joke, emphasizing that such remarks are unacceptable, especially during an election season.

“He (Duterte) cannot hide behind a joke. In a democracy, words have power — especially when they come from someone who has held the highest office in the land,” Adiong said.

Zamboanga Rep. Jefferson Khonghun echoed the calls for an NBI investigation of the former president, arguing that the law should be applied equally.

Key rival

The calls for an investigation came as the Senate prepares to transform itself into an impeachment court following the House of Representatives’ impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.

The House overwhelmingly voted to impeach her over the alleged threats and her misuse of confidential and intelligence funds.

The Vice President’s camp has claimed that her impeachment and the congressional investigation into her actions were part of a broader campaign to discredit her ahead of the 2028 presidential election.

Despite her landslide victory as Marcos’ running mate in 2022, Duterte is now seen as a key rival to Speaker Romualdez in the next presidential race.

If Vice President Duterte is convicted and removed from public office, her father has hinted that he would run for president again in 2028.

Murder as policy

Taguig Rep. Amparo Maria “Pammy” Zamora condemned the former president’s remarks, saying that leaders should not make murder sound like a legitimate policy option.

She cited the thousands of deaths linked to Duterte’s war on drugs, warning that such rhetoric has real consequences.

La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega also criticized Duterte for his remark, calling it a desperate attempt to influence the elections.

“They can see their defeat in the 12 May elections. So the former president is resorting to threats and negative campaigning,” Ortega said.

On Monday, Santiago came under fire from lawmakers.

1-Rider Rep. Ramon Gutierrez, a member of the prosecution panel that will try Vice President Duterte, said Santiago should have exercised “abundant caution” and conducted a preliminary investigation before rejecting outright the plea to probe the veracity of the former chief executive’s remarks.

“It could be political rhetoric, he (Santiago) could be right. But I think he should at least entertain the idea, not dismiss it right away,” Gutierrez said in a briefing. “We respect the NBI director. That’s how he sees his job. Perhaps he is choosing which one (Duterte) to investigate or not.”

In an interview on Monday, Santiago dismissed House members’ request to consider taking legal action against the former president.

“With all due respect to Congressman Adiong and other congressmen, they are instigating the NBI to investigate [but] they are not the ones who were threatened. It’s the senators, whoever they may be, who should be the ones to complain,” Santiago said in Filipino.

Adiong, however, countered that one doesn’t need to be directly threatened in order to call out Duterte’s demeanor and for the authorities to take preemptive action.

“It so unfortunate to hear that from the NBI director. For as someone who is in charge of making sure that such talk and such rhetoric don’t go overboard as to cause harm and to cause other people to act on the statements by this influential person, this thing should not be taken lightly,” he said in the same briefing.

Salvador Panelo, who served as chief legal counsel of the former president, chided police general Nicolas Torre for filing a complaint for grave threats against Duterte.

“Torre is a tower of ignorance and an edifice of nonsense,” Panelo said. “The grave threats complaint he and his agency filed against FPRRD is dismissible in the prosecutor’s office outright for utter lack of legal basis and for being ludicrous as well.”

“Don’t they have anything sensible and productive to do, other than doing foolish things? He is also more popish than the Pope. No one among the senators alluded to has said anything about the alleged threat against the senators’ lives,” Panelo said.

‘Obsessed with death’

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Monday said Duterte’s threat hints of a psychological disorder.

“Let the DoJ and NBI do their jobs. They should know if, given the facts, a crime has been committed or not. If there is no crime whatsoever then let us drop the issue,” he said.

“However, a person’s obsession with the topic of death and killing, mentioning it every time he or she speaks, is a worrying sign of a serious personality disorder,” he said.

Last week, Duterte said 15 senators should be killed to open up more seats for the senatorial candidates under his party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino — Lakas ng Bayan, or PDP-Laban.

“Now that there are many of them (aiming for the Senate), what should we do? Why don’t we just kill the senators now so we can vacate their seats? If we can kill about 15 senators, we’ll all get in,” the former president had said.