DOJ junks QC cop’s ‘assault, coercion’ raps vs VP, aide

The Quezon City prosecutor’s office has junked the complaint filed by the police against Vice President Sara Duterte over her actions during the tense transfer of her then chief of staff Zuleika Lopez from her detention room at the House of Representatives to a private hospital on Nov. 23 last year.

Dismissed were the complaint filed by the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) against Duterte for direct assault, disobedience and grave coercion.

In resolution dated Jan. 17 and made made public on Tuesday, Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors said there was “no prima facie evidence with reasonable certainty of conviction” to indict Duterte and her Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSG) commander Dante Lachica over their heated encounter with Lt. Col. Van Jason Villamor of the QCPD.

“Interestingly, not one of the witnesses of (complainant) Villamor corroborated his claims regarding the purported attack, employment of physical force, intimidation, resistance, disobedience, violence and threats,” Assistant City Prosecutor Criscelyn Carayugan-Lugo said in the 12-page resolution.

The witnesses also did not recount the incident and describe Villamor’s behavior, which, the prosecutors said, “could have persuaded us that he was threatened and intimidated, if at all.”

Her hand on his chest

Villamor sent a video footage of the encounter to support his complaint, but it “negates his own asseverations,” they added.

“Being so, we are constrained to dismiss the complaint for insufficiency of evidence,” the prosecutors stressed.

In his complaint direct assault charge, Villamor alleged that Duterte “placed her right hand on his chest and pushed him away” while he was escorting Lopez in a stretcher and into a Philippine National Police ambulance that would take her to St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City.

Lopez was initially brought to Veterans Memorial Medical Center but insisted on being taken to the private hospital, citing her doctor’s advice.

According to Villamor, Lachica, the Vice President’s security aide, also “shoved him” while saying, “Tumabi ka na lang muna! (You just step aside now.)”

The prosecutors said these acts did not meet the elements of direct assault since “placing a hand over the chest, pushing and shoving do not constitute attack or physical force.”

“To be considered as direct assault, the laying of hands or the use of physical force must be serious. The force exerted must be more severe than just slapping and punching. That is not the case here,” they said.

‘Not at all threatening’

Prosecutors also found no ground for “disobedience to authority,” noting that Villamor was “not performing his official functions” during the encounter.

“The juridical conception of the crime of resistance and disobedience to a person in authority… consists in a failure to comply with orders directly issued by the authorities in the exercise of their official duties,” they said.

The grounds for the grave coercion charge were also lacking since the confrontation between the Vice President’s aides and Villamor failed to show that it was “effected by violence, threats or intimidation.”

They also took note that Duterte, during the incident, told Villamor that Lopez’s transfer stemmed from a “lawful order!’’

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She was also heard telling him: Tama na! Tama na sir!… Huwag ka na bumida. Huwag ka na bumida, sir! (Stop it, sir! No need you to play hero, sir) Pulis, back off.”

According to the resolution, these words were “not at all threatening; nor do they qualify as intimidation.”

Panic attack

Villamor’s complaint stemmed the commotion that marked the transfer of Lopez from the House to St. Luke’s in the morning of Nov. 23.

Lopez was then a House detainee who had been cited in contempt for allegedly being evasive during a public hearing into Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds given to the Office of the Vice President.

Lopez had a panic attack upon learning that she was being transferred from the House to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong, prompting Duterte to come to her aid.

The Vice President stayed for several hours at the Batasan complex, accompanying Lopez and defying House security protocols.

It was during her stay that she called the now-infamous online press conference where said she had arranged to have President Marcos, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez killed should a supposed murder plot against her succeed.