After drawing much flak from netizens who made the hashtag #ProtectVico viral, the National Bureau of Investigation is now on its own in pursuing its case against Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto.
In an address to the nation late Friday evening, President Rodrigo Duterte denied he had a hand in the summons sent by the NBI to the mayor.
"Mayor Vico, when I proclaimed a national emergency, that was the only time I said don't do this, do that. I have nothing to do with the NBI. Most of them at the NBI are lawyers anyway," the President said.
The Department of Justice, which has jurisdiction over the NBI, already said that the penal provisions of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act cannot be applied retroactively “unless the offense is a continuing one and its commission has not been stopped.”
Sotto said the NBI, with media in tow, sent him a letter seeking his explanation for alleged violation of the said law when he allowed tricycles to operate in his city, despite the enhanced community quarantine.
Sotto questioned why he would be investigated for offenses under the Bayanihan Act when it only took effect ln March 24 or days after he had already issued directives to comply with the policy direction of the national government.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government also slammed the NBI for zeroing in on Sotto.
"This act of summoning the mayor of Pasig is a useless political distraction at this time when all of us are preparing and all of us cooperate to beat the COVID-19 crisis that we are in," DILG spokesman Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said.