Government prosecutors will file their comment on Vice President Sara Duterte’s motion to quash the grave threats charges filed against her before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, Chief State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon said Thursday.
Fadullon said prosecutors are awaiting the RTC’s formal order directing them to respond to the motion, which Duterte’s lawyers filed on the ground of lack of jurisdiction.
“We just received information that the court had already received the motion to quash coming from the defense, and the prosecution was given a period of five days within which to file its comment to the same before it will resolve the issue,” Fadullon said during a press briefing.
“We are expecting to receive the court’s order before the end of the week and we will be filing our comment forthwith,” he added.
Fadullon said the prosecution would leave the resolution of the motion to the RTC.
“After that, we’ll find out what the ruling of the court is on the motion to quash,” he said.
Duterte’s counsel, lawyer Paul Lim, confirmed that the defense had filed the motion, but declined to elaborate because the matter is already before the court.
“We confirm having filed a motion to quash the grave threats information filed against the Vice President, on the ground of lack of jurisdiction. As lawyers bound by our Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability, however, we cannot give any further discussion on this matter that is now sub judice,” Lim said in a statement.
The DOJ filed the grave threats case against Duterte after she said in an online press briefing in November last year that she had hired assassins to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she herself were killed.
Fadullon said the criminal proceedings before the RTC are separate from the impeachment proceedings against Duterte before the Senate sitting as an impeachment court.
“Whatever it is that’s going on before the impeachment court is different from the one that we have now. This is before the regional trial court; that’s why we would leave it to the ruling of the court how it will dispose of the same, whether it believes that the charges can be sustained even if the accused in this case is an impeachable officer,” Fadullon said.
“Kasi wala namang nagba-bar na hindi siya pwedeng file ng kaso,” he added.
The RTC’s action on Duterte’s motion to quash will determine whether the grave threats case will proceed.
