Sara Duterte eyes disobedience, robbery, kidnap raps vs PNP

Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday said she would file cases against the Philippine National Police (PNP) for alleged disobedience, robbery, and kidnapping.

This developed as the PNP lodged complaints for direct assault, disobedience, and grave coercion against Duterte, Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) head Colonel Raymund Dante Lachica, and other John Does.

The complaints, filed before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, stemmed from the disruption at the House of Representatives Detention Center and Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) involving the detention of Duterte's chief of staff Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez.

In response, Duterte said the PNP's complaints "on face value, do not hold water" and were part of the "oppression and harassment" against her.

"Initially, we are filing charges against them as well for disobedience, for kidnapping, for robbery," she said in a press conference in Zamboanga City.

Lopez, a longtime aide of Duterte, was transferred to the VMMC after she became emotional following the House's order to transfer her to the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City.

She was placed in the House detention facility after being cited in contempt last Wednesday for her supposed "undue interference" in a House panel's investigation into the budget use of Duterte's offices.

Threats

Duterte also slammed the PNP for saying that it has not received information on the supposed threat against her.

"Nakakahiya sa buong mundo na ang Philippine National Police natin, who by the way has intelligence funds, hindi alam ang pangyayari sa ating bansa. Nakakahiya na meron tayong pulis na hindi nila alam ang threats sa Vice President," she said.

(It's a shame to the whole world that the Philippine National Police, which by the way has intelligence funds, does not know what is happening in our country. It's a shame that we have police who don't know the threats against the Vice President.)

"'Wag silang magsasalita ng ganyan kasi nagpapakita 'yan ng incompetence ng PNP," she added.

(The PNP should not talk like that because it shows their incompetence.)

According to the vice president, the PNP, along with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), should instead say that they would investigate the alleged threats against her to know if these are true or not.

PNP spokesperson Police Brigadier General Jean Fajardo on Tuesday said the PNP presumed that any threat against Duterte would have been forwarded to the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG).

The vice president earlier claimed that House Speaker Martin Romualdez wanted her dead, and that he would not do it inside the House complex. Romualdez has since denied the allegation.

Duterte also said early Saturday morning that she had ordered someone to kill President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Romualdez, if an alleged plot against her succeeds.

She later clarified that her statement was not a threat, saying she only highlighted the alleged threat to her security. She also said that her remark was "taken out of logical context."

Authorities, however, have considered Duterte's remarks as a threat to the President and a matter of national security.

Marcos has also vowed to block "criminal attempts" against him amid Duterte's latest tirades. — VDV, GMA Integrated News