By Atty. Dino de Leon
(Editor’s note: This press release has been rewritten in the first-person perspective)
When Vice President Sara Duterte openly declared that she does not trust the courts and the police while facing criminal charges for grave threats, I could not stay silent. Watching the second-highest official in the land fuel public distrust in our legal system is deeply infuriating — especially after that very same judicial process was aggressively used against ordinary citizens during the administration of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.
You cannot demand the full protection of the law when you are the accused, then publicly discredit the entire judicial system simply because a court has found probable cause against you. After posting P360,000 bail in a Quezon City court for three counts of grave threats — stemming from her November 2024 televised remarks threatening President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and then-speaker Martin Romualdez — she repeatedly told reporters: “I do not feel safe. I don’t trust the court, I don’t trust the police.”
Bise Presidente siya (She is the Vice President). Instead of deepening the public’s doubt in our institutions, her duty is to respect the process, face the evidence and use the remedies available under the law. Sino pa ang magtitiwala sa korte kung ang pangalawang pinakamataas sa gobyerno, may bilyon sa bangko, at may army of lawyers ay magdedeklara publicly na wala siyang tiwala sa ating korte (Who else will trust the courts if the second-highest official in the government, with billions in the bank and an army of lawyers, publicly declares that she has no trust in our courts)?
I cannot help but contrast her situation with that of my client, public school teacher Ronnel Mas. In May 2020, NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) agents arrested Ronnel without a warrant at his Zambales home over a reckless social media post regarding then-President Duterte. He was dragged to Manila, detained for days, and charged with inciting to sedition. Ronnel was an ordinary citizen without the army of lawyers Sara Duterte enjoys. Though the DOJ (Department of Justice) eventually found his warrantless arrest invalid and the courts quashed the complaint, he endured the full, raw force of the legal system.
Now, the Vice President is afforded every dignity, due process, and legal remedy available, yet she tells the nation the courts cannot be trusted. Nakakaawa rin ang kanyang mga abogado (I feel sorry for her lawyers) — they are forced to seek relief from a court whose very legitimacy their client publicly destroys.
If Sara Duterte truly believes our legal system is broken, then her family should answer for all the ordinary citizens targeted under her father’s presidency. Kung totoong she cannot trust our own courts, eh tama nga naman na ang tatay niya eh dapat sa ICC (International Criminal Court) litisin (If it’s really true that she cannot trust our own courts, then it’s only right that her father should be tried by the ICC)?
She remains entitled to the presumption of innocence. But rights come with the responsibility to submit to the rule of law, not attack our institutions whenever they become personally inconvenient.
