Philippines must ‘speedily’ probe Rodrigo Duterte’s threat to ‘kill’ lawmaker, international group urges
- The former president made the comment during a television interview, after legislator France Castro criticised his daughter’s handling of government funds
- The Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union group condemned the threat and demanded it be informed of developments in the complaint brought by Castro
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), based in Geneva, said it was “appalled” that Duterte directly threatened the life of France Castro on air, which may discourage legislators from “speaking out on important matters and put their lives at significant risk”.
The ex-leader last month said in a television interview that he would ask his daughter, current Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio, to use her confidential funds to kill leftists in Congress including Castro, prompting the lawmaker to file a criminal complaint against the 78-year-old.
“Your first target in your intelligence fund is France [Castro], the communists, whom you want to kill,” he said.
According to the Department of Budget and Management, confidential funds are those “linked to surveillance activities in civilian government agencies that are intended to support the mandate or operations of the agency”.
The IPU demanded that “in light of the serious concerns arising from the situation, the treatment of Castro’s complaint will proceed speedily” and that it be informed of developments.
