Philippine prosecutor throws out ex-president Duterte death threat case

A Philippine prosecutor has thrown out a criminal complaint against former president Rodrigo Duterte, who was accused of making a death threat against a woman legislator, according to court documents released on Friday.

House of Representatives Deputy Minority Leader France Castro alleged Duterte threatened her life twice last year and had asked a state prosecutor in Manila to charge him.

The prosecutor, Leilia Llanes, dismissed the complaint on Tuesday "for want of sufficient evidence" in an approved resolution released to the press on Friday.

Castro had alleged that Duterte committed the crime of "grave threats" under the Cybercrime Prevention Act during two interviews with local broadcaster SMNI.

Duterte denied threatening to kill Castro, asking the prosecutor last month not to indict him.

In one of the interviews, the ex-president recounted "advice" he gave his daughter, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte, on how she could use intelligence and confidential funds allocated to her office.

"Your first target with your intelligence fund is 'You, you France'. Tell her, 'It is you communists who I want to kill'," Duterte said in one interview.

Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Ulric Badiola recommended the dismissal of the Castro complaint to his superior, Deputy City Prosecutor Llanes.

Badiola said Duterte was merely giving his daughter "sarcastic advice."

"There is no sufficient evidence that the respondent was bent on going after the attackers of her daughter to the extent of exterminating them, particularly herein complainant," Badiola said.

Duterte often threatened to kill people, including drug dealers and rights activists, when he was president from 2016 to 2022.

He also frequently labelled critics as communist sympathisers — a practice known as "red-tagging," which can result in the arrest, detention or even death of the person targeted. Castro could not be reached for comment on Friday.