CIDG chief on suing Rodrigo Duterte: 鈥榃hat goes around comes around鈥�
Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, CIDG chief —File photo by Lyn Rillon | Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines — “What goes around comes around.”
Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said this on Tuesday as he defended criminal complaints he filed against former President Rodrigo Duterte for his remark about .
Torre cited a past case in which a public school teacher was arrested for offering a P50-million bounty on Duterte’s life when he was still president.
“It’s this simple. The same was done to him before he became president. The NBI arrested him. A teacher did the same thing. And what happened? The teacher was jailed. They forced him to issue a public apology. Otherwise, he would have remained in jail. So, it’s the same. What goes around comes around,” Torre said in a mix of Filipino and English.
Now, Duterte is facing criminal complaints for unlawful utterances and inciting to sedition, which Torre filed on Monday before the Department of Justice.
Article continues after this advertisementThe case stemmed from Duterte’s remarks during a campaign rally, where he joked about killing 15 senators to create more vacancies for the candidates he supports.
Article continues after this advertisementDespite criticism that the case was politically motivated, Torre maintained that the Philippine National Police (PNP) would operate strictly within legal boundaries.
“It is natural for them to say that. But for me, we don’t care about politics. The PNP is apolitical, and we operate solely based on what the law says,” he said.
Director Jaime Santiago of the National Bureau of Investigation previously said there was no need to investigate Duterte, describing the former president’s remarks as “political propaganda and rhetoric.”
However, Torre emphasized that the PNP CIDG acted based on its own findings.
“That’s the director’s opinion. But let’s see — because they are not the ones who will evaluate or file the case,” he said.
“We saw a case. So we filed it. We don’t want to comment on their opinion,” Torre added.
