Sheriffs file case vs Duterte

Taking the cudgels for their mauled colleague, the Sheriff’s Confederation of the Philippines Inc. (Scophil) on Monday hit back at Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, slapping her with a direct assault and grave misconduct complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman.

In a statement, Scophil said they chose to file the complaint because all of the sheriffs in the country’s courts and quasi-judicial agencies and tribunals are the injured parties in the attack against Sheriff Abe Andres.

“That attack—done while Abe was performing his official duties—impinges upon our very essence as agents of the law tasked to enforce lawful writs and processes without fear or favor—our ‘soul’ as sheriffs, so to speak. We cannot let it pass,” it said.

Duterte punched Andres when the latter tried to enforce a court order to demolish houses in a contested property in Davao City despite her request for a two-hour delay.

Andres himself has chosen not to file a complaint against Duterte. Scophil said it respects his decision, but it cannot take the incident sitting down.

“Thus, while we respect Abe’s personal decision not to file any case against Mayor Duterte, we will not sit idly by and watch arrogant powers-that-be make a mockery of the court’s writs and processes,” it said in a statement.

“Otherwise, court proceedings would be farce and the enforcement of final decisions a delusion; judicial independence would be a myth,” it added.

Scophil also said Duterte’s attack on sheriff Andres, coming from someone like her who is also a lawyer, “is an assault on the court as an institution.” As a lawyer, she owes fealty to the courts, it said.

It also lamented that Duterte has shown no remorse for the “unprovoked” attack on Andres.

Scophil called on the Department of Interior and Local Government to fast track its investigation on the attack on Andres, and to file charges against Duterte and her bodyguards.

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines is conducting its own investigation.

Ombudsman spokesperson Mary Rawnsle Lopez said the Office of the Ombudsman is evaluating the sheriffs’ complaint.

Reacting to the sheriffs’ complaint against her daughter, Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said: “Mga bugo mong tanan (You are all stupid).”

“What was the sheriff doing at that time?” Duterte asked, referring again to Republic Act No. 7279, which mandated a 30-day notice before carrying out a demolition order in the country.

“The order was issued on June 21, it was supposed to be implemented on July 21, how come the sheriff implemented it on July 1?” Duterte asked.

Duterte said the demolition violated RA 7279 because it was carried out before the 30-day notice, when Davao City was under a state of calamity and without the presence of local government officials.

Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo said on Monday he would submit to President Aquino the report on the results of the fact-finding investigation on the mauling incident within the week.

“Hopefully within the week, we can forward our report to the President with our corresponding recommendations,” he said in a statement.

Robredo said his department’s team of lawyers went back to Davao City last Thursday to interview and get the statements of other witnesses in order to come up with a more comprehensive report on Duterte’s possible liability for punching a court sheriff.

House members are keenly watching the administration’s actions on the Dutertes whose patriarch had long been rumored to be the first choice of Mr. Aquino as Interior Secretary. With reports from DJ Yap and Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.