Vice President Sara Duterte could face criminal charges because of the assassination threats she hurled at the First Couple and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, former Office of the Vice President (OVP) spokesperson Barry Gutierrez said.
Vice President Sara Duterte and former vice presidential spokesman Barry Gutierrez (OVP photos)
In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) over the weekend, the ex-OVP spokesman and former lawmaker cited the charges that can be filed against the country’s second-highest official.
“A number of people have asked, and as I told @raissawriter in this interview, VP Sara's tirade can lead to criminal charges -- grave threats, unlawful utterances, and inciting to sedition, all under the RPC (Revised Penal Code), come to mind -- and, of course, impeachment,” Gutierrez, a lawyer by profession, wrote.
He also seemed to poke fun at the Vice President after she made the public threats agains the First Couple in a pre-dawn Zoom press conference on Saturday, Nov. 23.
In it, Duterte said she had asked someone to kill President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Romualdez if she herself gets assassinated.
“Our Vice President just publicly stated that she has asked someone to assassinate the President, First Lady, and Speaker of the House, in case she dies,” Gutierrez said on X.
“Welcome to crazyland, everyone,” he added.
The Vice President’s tirade against the First Couple and Romualdez came after her chief-of-staff, Office of the Vice President (OVP) Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, was held in contempt and detained at the House custodial facility following her admission of asking the state auditors to withheld critical audit reports about the OVP’s confidential funds utilization.
Lopez was also eventually ordered to be transferred to the Women’s Correctional Facility in Mandaluyong City amid Duterte’s attempt to stay in her brother’s office at the House of Representatives’ complex to be close to her chief-of-staff.
Duterte identified herself as Lopez’s lawyer when the House good government committee’s order was served.
“Someone please remind our VP that Art VII, Sec 13 of the Constitution bars her from ‘directly or indirectly, [practicing] any other profession’ during her tenure,” Gutierrez said.
“Kung gusto niyang mag-abogado, mag-resign muna siya (If she wants to lawyer, she must first resign),” he added.
Lopez was cited in contempt last Nov. 21 for “undue interference” after she admitted asking the Commission on Audit (COA) not to comply with the House’s subpoena on audit reports on the OVP’s liquidation documents regarding the confidential funds.
The panel is likewise looking into the disbursement of confidential funds at the Department of Education (DepEd) when Duterte was still its secretary.