Business manager Nicko Falcis and his brother filed a criminal complaint against Kris Aquino after a supposed phone call between Falcis and Aquino made rounds on social media last week.
Copies of an audio clip of a supposed phone conversation between Aquino and Falcis blew up when Gretchen Barretto reportedly posted about it on her account.
The Falcis brothers filed two counts of grave threats against the TV personality before the Office of the City Prosecutor of Quezon City on January 19.
Lawyer Jesus Falcis, the younger brother, shared photos of their filing on Instagram.
“A death threat is a death threat. We have to protect our life and security from the crazy rich and powerful,” Falcis said in the caption.
“Growing up as gay people, we were bullied but we have always stood up against our bullies. This is no exception,” he added.
The complaint contains the threats Aquino supposedly blurted out to her former business partner in a recorded phone call that took place on September 27 of last year.
Last year, Aquino lodged 44 counts of qualified theft against Falcis, an accountant, in different cities.
She claimed that Falcis exploited P1.2 million from her through a credit card she gave him when he was still working at her production outfit, Kris Cojuangco Aquino Productions or KCAP.
She also blamed him for missing P40 million worth of investments from her children’s trust funds.
Moreover, Aquino also sued the younger brother, Jesus, with cyber libel over the perceived offensive postings he made against her.
The phone call
Barretto shared screenshots of an audio recording from a sketchy entertainment channel on YouTube called Kdot Web on January 15. It’s not certain whether Barretto was the one who provided the copy to the channel.
The clip was titled “Kris Aquino vs. Nicko Falcis Recorded Conversation!”
Prior to this, Barretto made an unexpected gesture of support to Falcis through an Instagram post that read: “No to bullies! Stop power tripping.”
Aquino soon dared Falcis in a now-deleted post to file grave threat cases against her. She did not admit to be the woman in the viral audio at first.
It was soon replaced by another one that suggested her admittance and apology this time.
“Wag naman bilugin ang utak ng tao. You and I know that was a bluff provoked by anger & fear because of my awful health diagnosis,” Aquino said in the lengthy caption.
“Sadly, this has been one badly orchestrated demolition job being funded by personalities out for political revenge… I’ll own na kasalanan ko ‘to,” she added.
As if this was not enough, Aquino also made a Facebook live broadcast to air her side on the confrontation.
“Nagkamali ako dahil sa tindi ng galit ko, dahil noong panahon na ‘yon—I’ll put everything into context—my son was breaking down, because he knew kung gaano ka-serious ang autoimmune disease. He knew also kung gaano katindi ang allergies ng nanay niya, that’s why we came here para malaman natin kung may chance ba para malabanan pa. If you see your 11-year-old son breaking down, hindi ka ba magagalit?” part of her half hour broadcast said.
She then claimed that Falcis and his family are just expendable pawns to her family’s political rivals.
“Sa ginawa niyo sa’kin, magpapalakas ako. Maghanda kayo. Magpapalakas talaga ako. The Falcis family don’t realize they are just pawns. They are expendable, being used by bigger political powers,” she said.
Falcis later clapped back at Aquino and emphasized his innocence against the accusations of Aquino.
“I have nothing to gain from this fight. You have ruined my reputation even before the cases have started. I merely want to clear my name. I’ve said this before, I say it again: I refuse to be bullied. No Filipino– regardless of economic stature should ever be,” he said on Facebook.