PNP files direct assault, disobedience, and grave coercion against VP Sara Duterte, staff
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has filed several complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte and her staff members following a confrontation with the police over the weekend.
Police Col. Melecio Buslig Jr., QCPD chief, and other officers filed complaints of direct assault, disobedience, and grave coercion at the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday, Nov. 27.
The charges include a violation of Article 151 of the Revised Penal Code for Resistance and Disobedience to a Person in Authority.
This came after Duterte confronted the police over the weekend when her chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, was taken to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) on Saturday, Nov. 23 amid her detention at the House of Representatives Detention Center.
PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil detailed that in a video taken during the incident, Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) head Col. Raymund Dante Lachica was seen “physically pushing and assaulting the PNP doctor-in-charge" during Lopez’s transfer from the VMMC to St. Luke's Medical Center using a private ambulance, per the Philippine News Agency (PNA) report.
The vice president was also heard berating a police officer during the incident, saying "'Wag kayong bakla.”
The report added that the actions done by Duterte’s camp during the incident may have impeded the lawful detention order issued by the House and disrupted operations at the detention center and the VMMC.
Marbil stressed that the rule of law must be upheld and that no one, even those in high positions, should be above accountability.
On Nov. 20, Lopez was cited for contempt by the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability over her evasive answers and "undue interference" in the panel's proceedings in investigating the Office of the Vice President (OVP)'s use of confidential funds.
Her certificate of confinement stated that she was being treated for acute stress disorder and other physical conditions, per the PNA report.
She was initially set for a five-day detention but was extended to five more days due to her absence on probe last Nov. 25.
