No plan exists to strip Vice President Sara Duterte of her law license, a ranking official of the National Bureau of Investigation said Friday, pushing back against reports that the agency intended to pursue such a case following her recent remarks questioning the judiciary.
Emeterio Dongallo Jr., who heads the NBI’s National Capital Region office, told DZRH that circulating accounts of a planned disbarment complaint against the Vice President before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines had no basis. The clarification, aired through RH 15’s Jecelle Ricafort, came amid renewed scrutiny of Duterte’s public statements expressing distrust in the courts.
The bureau’s actual disbarment effort, Dongallo indicated, is directed elsewhere. That case targets former congressman Jacinto “Jing” Paras along with attorneys Ruy Rondain, Orlando Mendiola, Patrick Criaga, and Josemilio Manuel Apostol — all linked to what investigators have described as a scheme to smear Executive Secretary Ralph Recto.
According to the NBI, the four lawyers, who practice under the Rondain and Mendiola Law Firm, were assigned to draft the fabricated statements and sworn affidavits that four female talents were supposedly hired to deliver against Recto. The complaint was lodged with the Supreme Court’s Office of the Bar Confidant rather than the IBP.
The move against the lawyers builds on an earlier referral. On September 4, the NBI-NCR forwarded a qualified human trafficking complaint to the Department of Justice naming the same respondents, Batangas 1st District Representative Leandro Leviste, and a talent manager. Justice department officials said this week they were still reviewing whether that complaint would advance to preliminary investigation.
Paras has rejected the accusations, characterizing the legal actions against him and his co-respondents as a campaign of harassment by the Marcos administration.
