Once on the same side in the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP) during the term of President Rodrigo Duterte, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go and National Bureau of Investigation director Melvin Matibag gave conflicting views on the court order to arrest Vice President Sara Duterte.

Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 98 Judge Maria Angelica P. de Ramos signed the warrant covering three counts of grave threats, filed by the Department of Justice in relation to Republic Act 10175, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. Bail was set at P120,000 per count for a total of P360,000.

Go, who has remained on the side of the Dutertes, questioned the timing of the arrest warrant’s issuance.

“It’s probably different because the case is already before the court; it is with the RTC. Our situation here in the Senate (impeachment court) is different. I’m just wondering about the timing. I’m just wondering why it came out now,” Go said.

The senator said he found it puzzling that the issue that was pending for nearly two years surfaced only now, amid the impeachment trial against the Vice President.

“Why now? Why now, when there is an ongoing impeachment trial? There was so much time before this. Even before the impeachment, it could have been filed,” he said.

Asked if he considered the issuance of the arrest warrant an act of harassment, Go said the court and the Vice President’s legal team would have to deal with the matter through the proper legal process.

Nevertheless, he expressed confidence in Duterte’s ability to handle the situation.

“She is used to these kinds of situations. The impeachment is ongoing, so she can handle it. One hundred percent, I believe she can,” he said.

On the impeachment proceedings, Go, who is a senator-judge, stressed that the Constitution should be followed, amid renewed discussions on the voting threshold required to convict Duterte.

“Whatever is stated in the Constitution, we should follow. It says two-thirds of all the senators. The presiding officer mentioned during, I think, the first day of the impeachment trial that it would be 16. That is what we are keeping in mind, that we should follow what is stated in the Constitution,” Go said.

Different venues

On Matibag’s part, he reiterated that a criminal offense, referring to the grave threats case, is different from the grounds for impeachment.

“I remember when I testified, we were saying that a criminal offense is separate and distinct from impeachment,” Matibag said at the Saturday News Forum.

“So she is not being impeached based on the grave threat. It’s based on the culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust,” he said.

Matibag noted that a constitutional violation is different from a criminal case, stressing that the absence of a conviction or the non-filing of a criminal case does not necessarily mean that an act would not amount to a violation that could be a basis for impeachment.

The NBI director also pointed to the investigation allegedly used as evidence in the impeachment proceedings, saying the Department of Justice had confirmed a reasonable certainty of conviction.

He said the recent developments in the grave threats case could strengthen its basis.

“The grave threat was committed by issuing a warrant, by denying the motion to dismiss. For me, it seems that the basis for this grave threat has become even stronger,” Matibag, who parted ways with the Dutertes several years ago, said.