The National Bureau of Investigation has arrested a netizen who posted on social media that there is a P50 million reward for assassinating or killing President Rodrigo Duterte.
According to the source, the unnamed netizen was arrested in Sta. Cruz, Zambales, on Monday and is now in the custody of the NBI Main Office in Manila for inquest proceedings.
Using a private social media account, the netizen announced that he was willing to give a P50-million reward to assassinate the President.
His Twitter post has been deleted, but many have been able to screenshot it, and the NBI is holding it as evidence.
A video of the suspect admitting to the crime circulated online. According to the video uploader, NBI Pangasinan Chief Rizaldy Jaymalin, Spl Investigator Paulo Calip, Spl Investigator Mark Caseres, Atty. Fabienne Matib and troop tracked the suspect down at Brgy. Poblacion North, Sta. Cruz, Zambales.
He said that while onboard to the vehicle with the subject and his parents traveling their way back to Dagupan City, they applied reverse psychology to the suspect. After a few minutes, the arrest netizen cried and admitted the crime.
“Nagso-sorry po ako kay [I apologize to] President Rodrigo Duterte,” he said while crying.
He explained that he had no intention of harming the President and only did it because nobody is paying attention to his complaints.
The video also revealed that the suspect was a teacher.
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Netizen who posted P50-M reward for killing Duterte arrested
The official who arrested the suspect and recorded the video said, “Maliwanag naman an and pag-amin mo from your heart, so we will do our best na i-extend ang pag-intindi sayo.”
(It is clear that you admitted what you did from your heart so we will do our best to extend our understanding of you.)
“National security ang kinahitnan nito. Seguridad ito ng ating bansa sapagkat kung pinatay ang ating presidente, what will happen to our country?”
(The issue here is national security. This is the security of our country because if the President gets killed, what will happen to our country?” the official added.
At the same time, the NBI has again warned netizen to be responsible and cautious about posting on social media as it can affect other people.
The NBI added that the Cybercrime Prevention Act exists.