MANILA — The Philippine National Police (PNP) expressed support on Thursday for Vice President Sara Duterte’s plan to file complaints against police officers for alleged disobedience, robbery, and kidnapping.
“That is always the right of anybody to file a case, especially against the police, if they feel aggrieved,” said PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief BGen. Nicolas Torre III.
He added that the PNP would wait for the formal filing of the case before issuing any statements or responding to the forum where the complaints would be lodged.
This comes after the PNP filed complaints against Vice President Duterte, Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) chief Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, and other unnamed individuals for direct assault, disobedience, and grave coercion.
The complaints were filed before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, relating to an incident at the House of Representatives Detention Center and Veterans Memorial Medical Center involving the detention of Duterte’s chief of staff, Atty. Zuleika Lopez.
According to the police, Duterte’s security detail was involved in the “forced transfer” of Lopez from the Veterans Memorial Medical Center to St. Luke’s Medical Center using a private ambulance.
“We can clearly see in the video that they were the ones who did it, with the security detail of VP Sara pushing the police officer,” Torre stated.
“That push is direct assault. It involved body contact with an officer simply doing his job. This cannot be forgiven, and we cannot let it pass.”
Torre further mentioned that more complaints could be filed against Duterte and the VPSPG but deferred to the judgment of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), given the complexity of the legal issues involved.