The NBI Special Task Force serves a subpoena for VP Sara Duterte in their investigation of her alleged threat against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on November 26, 2024, in Mandaluyong. Niko Baua, ABS-CBN News

MANILA (UPDATED) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s message to members of the House may have forestalled the threat of impeachment but Vice President Sara Duterte, who is not immune form suit, may still face criminal cases over her November 23 streamed conference and the confrontation with police that followed as her chief of staff was brought to the hospital from detention at the Batasang Pambansa.

A police doctor on Wednesday filed a criminal complaint of Direct Assault, Disobedience and Grave Coercion against her, an official of her security detail, and several John and Jane Does over an incident at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City.

Police Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, Philippine National Police chief, said Sunday that the police have to file complaints, if warranted, to show the law applies to all.

"If we do not file cases against those accused, what will people say? Takot ang pulis, pangmahirap lang ang pangil ng batas (The police are afraid and the law only has teeth against the poor). We cannot allow such perceptions to take root," he said.

PNP: Cases vs VP Sara Duterte, others meant to show law 'applies to all'

The Department of Justice and National Bureau of Intelligence are also investigating the Vice President for possible acts of Inciting to Sedition, Grave Threats, and violation of Republic Act 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The NBI had hoped Duterte would heed its subpoena and appear last Friday but she did not arrive and instead wrote them to reschedule her appearance at their office.

The potential terrorism related charges are a development that Duterte said follows a “playbook” previously used against expelled congressman Arnolfo Teves Jr., who has been accused of being a mastermind in the killing of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo and nine others and who has been designated a terrorist.

READ: VP Duterte warns ‘playbook’ of Anti-Terror Law, AMLA might be used against her

"On face value, [the complaints] do not hold water," Duterte declared in a streamed conference last Wednesday.

But critics of the ATA — before it was signed into law and after, in its implementation — say the supposed Teves playbook has been around much earlier than Degamo’s murder and has previously been used against citizens with much less power and influence.

Rights advocates have called the possibility of terror-related charges “poetic justice” and “a taste of her own poison” as well as a demonstration of how the law that then Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte supported could be abused.

“This shows how the terror law could arbitrarily be weaponized against anyone perceived as an enemy,” Cristina Palabay, secretary general of rights alliance Karapatan, said Sunday.

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She said more than a hundred activists have been charged so far for alleged violations of the Anti-Terrorism Act and the related Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act, which she called the ATA's "evil twin".

"Indeed, this is how the ATA has been systematically used since its inception," she said, adding the law has been used to "harass and persecute activists and suppress dissent” since 2020.

Allegations that Duterte raised — of raiding teams planting evidence — are not too different from accounts by activists and citizens who have, Palabay said, "experienced illegal raids in their homes or offices, with evidence planted against them, as they are charged with trumped up cases or killed." 

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Human rights lawyer Antonio La Viña pointed out earlier this week that the law has also been used against school teachers and sari-sari store owners accused of supporting the New People’s Army.

"Kita naman ang kalokohan ng ating Anti-Terrorism Act, sa totoo lang against ako sa (ATL) dahil napaka-vague. It can be used against anyone," he said.

(It's clear that the Anti-Terrorism Act is nonsense. To be honest, I am against it because it is so vague. It can be used against anyone.)

UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan in February pointed out that the ATA has "an overly broad and vague definition of terrorism, which leaves it open to abuse."

In response, Duterte ally Sen. Christopher "Bong" Go countered that laws like the ATA are "not meant to suppress the freedom of expression of our people, but to protect them from the enemies of the state and the lawless elements."

'NOT TERRORIST DESIGNATION'

Vice President Sara Duterte addresses the media at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City on November 26, 2024, regarding her remarks about President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN NewsThe DOJ has defended the investigation into potential terrorism-related cases, saying it is not the same thing as labeling the Vice President a terrorist.

"Iba pong proseso ang tinatawag nating designation as terrorist. Iba pong ebidensya ang kailangan doon. Ngunit hindi naman kailangan na ma-designate as terrorist, bago ka lumapag o posibleng lumapag sa probisyon ng Anti-Terror Law," Justice Undersecretary Jesse Andres said.

(Designation as a terrorist is a different process. That requires a different kind of evidence. But one doesn't have to be designated a terrorist to have a provision of the Anti-Terror Law possibly apply to them)

Terrorist designation, which is done by the Anti-Terrorism Council, authorizes the freezing of assets, which Duterte said earlier this week is what the government intends to do.

"Ano ba 'yung gusto nilang gawin kaya sila nagcha-charge ng Anti-Terror Law? Gusto nila mag-cancel ng passport, gusto nila mag-red notice sa [Interpol] so hindi ka makakagalaw overseas. Gusto nila mag-AMLA, Anti-Money Laundering Act," the Vice President said.

(What do they want when they charge under the Anti-Terror Law? They want the passport cancelled, they want a red notice from [Interpol] so you can't move about overseas. They want to use the Anti-Money Laundering Act)

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Karapatan on Sunday reiterated its call to repeal the ATA, noting also that those who "conceived of, and enforced, the ATA as a repressive tool against the people are now finding themselves haunted by their own creation."

DISBARMENT THREAT, TOO

Amid all the legal challenges that Duterte might face, she is also subject to a request — by former ally, Marcos Jr. official and disbarred lawyer Larry Gadon — for disbarment proceedings for her "undoubtedly illegal, immoral and condemnable" statements against the President, First Lady and House speaker.

RELATED: DOJ leaves disbarment cases vs VP Sara Duterte to IBP

Gadon recounted that Duterte had already been subject to disbarment case in 2011 for punching and injuring a court sheriff but that the SC had failed to act on it.

"Despite the injustice, the unfairness and the extreme discrimination that the undersigned suffered from the Supreme Court, the signatory still believes that the institution will outlive some biased minds and personalities in the High Court," Gadon, who was removed from the roll of attorneys in 2023 for cursing at and threatening a journalist, said.

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