Sara Duterte, OVP security face criminal complaint over hospital transfer incident

MANILA, Philippines – The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) on Wednesday, November 27, filed a criminal complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte and her security personnel stemming from the “forced transfer” of her chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, to a private hospital over the weekend.

“We have referred a criminal complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte, Colonel Raymund Dante Lachica, and several John Does and Jane Does. We have referred the case of direct assault, disobedience to authority, and grave coercion,” QCPD chief Colonel Melecio Buslig said in a media interview after he filed the complaint before the QC Prosecutor’s Office.

Lachica heads the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG).

In a news briefing earlier on Wednesday, Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Brigadier General Jean Fajardo presented a video that was already going around social media showing Duterte addressing a police officer beside an ambulance. Lachica was then seen shoving and pushing the police officer.

Fajardo said the police officer was the PNP doctor-in-charge, Lieutenant Colonel Jason Villamor, who was supposed to assist in the transfer of Lopez to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), as directed by the House committee on good government, early on Saturday. Lopez suffered an anxiety attack after learning of the House order to move her to the women’s prison in Mandaluyong City.

Fajardo said that the House panel had requested police assistance for the transfer of Lopez to the government hospital so the QCPD provided an ambulance. Duterte and her security personnel, however, interfered and placed Lopez in a private ambulance, then brought her to St. Luke’s Medical Center, a private hospital, in defiance of the House order.

“We cannot let this pass,” Fajardo said.

PNP chief General Rommel Marbil has formally requested Armed Forces of the Philippines chief General Romeo Brawner for the identities of the other members of the VPSPG who were with the Vice President and Lachica during the “forced transfer of Atty. Lopez from the VMMC to St. Luke’s Medical Center using a private ambulance that they hired.”

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“In a video that surfaced, VPSPG head, Colonel Raymund Dante Lachica, was seen physically pushing and assaulting the PNP doctor-in-charge, which could lead to a direct assault complaint,” Marbil added in his letter.

“The rule of law is fundamental to our democratic system. No one, regardless of their position, should be above accountability. The PNP remains committed to ensuring the proper execution of lawful orders and protecting public order,” the PNP chief said.

The complaint against Duterte was filed on the same day that Marcos poverty adviser Larry Gadon filed a disbarment complaint against her over her statement that she had arranged the assassination of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez, in the event that she is killed. The National Bureau of Investigation is also probing this, despite Duterte’s insistence that her statement was taken out of context.

Duterte went on an online rampage against the Marcoses early on Saturday, November 23, after the House panel ordered Lopez’s transfer to the women’s prison in Mandaluyong. Lopez suffered an anxiety attack following the directive, prompting her transfer to a hospital from House detention.

On Monday, House committee on good government extended the contempt citation against Lopez by five more days. She was cited in contempt on November 20, due to her “undue interference” in the House probe into Duterte’s alleged fund misuse. – Rappler.com