The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday said that the teacher who offered P50-M pesos bounty in exchange for President Rodrigo Duterte’s life cannot get away with liability despite his public apology.
In a statement, DOJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra said that they’re going to leave the case of Ronnel Mas, 25, a teacher from Zambales to the members of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
“I understand that this person has been placed in custody by the NBI and may be brought to an inquest. So I’ll leave it to the investigating prosecutor,” Guevarra said.
“However, an apology is not one of the grounds for extinguishing crminal liability. I cannot feloniously injure another and get away with it by merely saying sorry,” he added.
A few days ago, Mas captured the attention of the netizens on Twitter after he tweeted: “I will give ₱50 Million reward kung sino makakap*tay kay Duterte #NoToABSCBNShutDown,”
After his tweet has gone viral, members of NBI Pangasinan launched an operation to track Mas who was found in Zambales.
According to Mas parents, the suspect already expected that he’s being traced by the authorities as he tried to destroy his cellphone.
However, destroying his phone was not enough to hide his location from the authorities who found him on Monday.
At first, Mas denied that he’s the one who posted the said tweet, but later on, he admitted it and apologized to President Duterte.
“Opo nagso-sorry po ako kay President Rodrigo Duterte dahil nagawa ko ang tweet na ‘yon… hindi ko po intensyon ‘yon,” he said.
The next day, he was brought to NBI Central Office where he was presented to the media handcuffed.
“Ang dami ng problema ng bansa, dumagdag pa ako, ito po ay aking pinagsisisihan ng buong puso,” he said.
Meanwhile, Malacanang said that they’re letting NBI do their job in investigating Mas.
“Well, iyan po ay nasa kamay na ng ating law enforcement agencies. Hayaan po natin na gawin nila ang trabaho nila,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised press briefing.
“Kung merong prima facie case for any case, kasuhan siya at mabibigyan naman po siya ng pagkakataon na patunayang hindi siya nagkasala sa ating hukuman sa takdang panahon,” he added.