Police raps vs Sara junked

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THE Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office has recommended the dismissal of the complaints for direct assault, disobedience to authority and grave coercion filed by the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) against Vice President Sara Duterte and her head of security last year.

The complaints stemmed from the confrontation between members of the QCPD and the Vice President and her head security detail Col. Raymund Lachica on November 23, 2024 during the transfer of lawyer Zuleika Lopez, chief of staff of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), from the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) to the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City.

To recall, Lopez was hospitalized after experiencing a panic attack following the decision of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability to order her transfer from the detention facility of the House of Representatives to the Correctional Women’s Institute in Mandaluyong City.

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Lopez was ordered detained at the House after she was cited in contempt by the committee in relation to its inquiry on the alleged irregularities in the use of the confidential funds of the OVP.

Aside from Duterte and Lachica, several John and Jane Does were also included as respondents in the complaint filed by QCPD Medical and Dental Unit chief Lt. Col. Jason Villamor.

In his complaint, Villamor used as evidence a video footage showing Lachica assaulting him during the confrontation.

Villamor, a physician, was assigned to accompany Lopez to St. Luke’s when he said Lachica pushed him away.

Duterte was also seen in other videos confronting other police officials.

But Assistant City Prosecutor Criscelyn Carayugan-Lugo said there was a dearth of evidence to support the alleged commission of the crime and to ensure a reasonable certainty of conviction.

“The alleged commission of Direct Assault, Disobedience to Authority, and Grave Coercion is not supported by evidence. Interestingly, none of the witnesses of PLt. Col. Villamor corroborated (his) claims regarding the purported attack, employment of physical force, intimidation, resistance, disobedience, violence and threats. They did not narrate the encounter between the parties in their respective affidavits,” said part of the 11-page resolution dated January 17, 2025 and approved by City Prosecutor Vimar Barcellano.

It added that the complaints did not discuss Villamor’s behavior after the incident which could have persuaded the prosecutor’s office to believe that he was indeed threatened and intimidated as he alleged.

“The video footage submitted by him also negates his own asseverations. Being so, we are constrained to dismiss the complaints for insufficiency of evidence,” it ruled.

The resolution cited a 2024 circular issued by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla which increased the quantum of evidence for preliminary investigation of cases from probable cause to prima facie evidence with reasonable certainty of conviction by the court.

It said that such quantum of evidence “was not reached in the present case because the evidence at hand versus the defenses raised are insufficient to establish all the elements of the crimes charged, and to warrant a conviction beyond reasonable doubt.”

The complaints against John and Jane Does were also recommended to be dismissed without prejudice to re-filing once their identities and whereabouts are ascertained.

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