MANILA – A disbarment complaint has been filed before the Supreme Court (SC) Wednesday against Vice President Sara Duterte following her statement that she has contracted an assassin to target President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez.
In his letter filed before the high tribunal, Presidential Adviser on Poverty Alleviation Secretary Larry Gadon urged the court to take action against the Vice President, the daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Gadon noted that Duterte’s live online press conference on Nov. 23 was on numerous social media platforms and has been seen by millions of Filipinos. reported on television, radio and newspapers and now has become general public knowledge that the court may take judicial notice.
“Such statements coming from the second highest official of the land, seen and heard by millions of Filipinos are undoubtedly illegal, immoral and condemnable. As a lawyer herself, she should be disbarred,” he said.
“While it may be alleged that the intent has not been consummated, nevertheless the statement revealed a fully constituted plan for murdering (the) three above individuals as she further affirmed that the assassination plot is not a joke,” he added.
Gadon said that “in a previous incident when she was still the Mayor of Davao City, she (Duterte) punched and inflicted injury to a sheriff who was then enforcing an order of the court, yet she was not disbarred nor at least suspended.”
Following the Vice President’s controversial online rant, National Security Adviser Secretary Eduardo Año said on Sunday that all threats to the life of President Marcos will be thoroughly investigated and “deemed a matter of national security.”
Lawmakers, led by the House Speaker, described Duterte’s statement as criminal, destabilizing and a direct threat to democracy.
On Tuesday, the National Bureau of Investigation formally asked Duterte to give her side to investigators by Friday in connection with her statement. (PNA)