The Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office dismissed on Tuesday charges of direct assault, disobedience and grave coercion filed against Vice President Sara Duterte, the head of her security detail Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, and several others for lack of merit.
In a 13-page resolution, Assistant City Prosecutor Criscelyn Carayugan-Lugo said “there is no prima facie evidence with reasonable certainty of conviction to indict (Duterte) and (Lachica) for Direct Assault, Disobedience of Authority and Grave Coercion.”
She claimed Duterte and Lachica’s acts cannot be considered direct assault since they “did not attack, employ material force, seriously intimidate or seriously resist Police Lt. Col. (Van Jason) Villamor.”
“The acts of 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 resolution read.
“The force exerted must be more severe than just slapping and punching. This is not the case here. Clearly, the acts attributed to VP Duterte-Carpio and Col. Lachica do not satisfy the stringent criteria for Direct Assault to ensue,” it added.
Carayugan-Lugo said the complainants failed to present convincing evidence against Duterte, Lachica and others involved in the incident.
Villamor—a police officer and medical doctor—filed the complaint following a tension-filled situation when Duterte’s chief of staff, lawyer Zuleika Lopez, was being transferred from a detention facility at the House of Representatives to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) last year.
PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo and the Quezon City Police District did not respond to the Manila Standard’s messages asking for comments on the dismissal of cases against Duterte and members of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group.
Meanwhile, former presidential spokesman Harry Roque, a known Duterte stalwart, wrote in his Facebook page, “Case dismissed! Kudos to our public prosecutors who upheld the rule of law!”
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “QC prosecutor junks assault charges against VP Sara, others.”