Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte appeared at a Quezon City Regional Trial Court on Saturday, September 5, posting bail of 120,000 Philippine pesos for each of three counts of grave threats — a total of 360,000 pesos — one day after a court issued a warrant for her arrest. The charges stem from a late-night press conference she held on November 23, 2024, in which she claimed to have arranged for a hitman to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she herself were killed. Duterte later said her remarks had been misconstrued.
Duterte's lawyer, Paul Lawrence Lim, confirmed she voluntarily appeared before the court and underwent the standard booking process, including fingerprinting. "The vice president voluntarily appeared before the court that issued the warrant, so there was no need for her to be arrested," Lim said. The Department of Justice filed the charges in August following a complaint by the National Bureau of Investigation, rejecting the defence team's argument that Duterte, as an impeachable official, cannot be criminally prosecuted while in office. Several independent legal experts have noted that, unlike the president, the vice president does not enjoy immunity from suit under Philippine law.
Before entering the courthouse, Duterte told reporters she feared for her life, claiming to have faced documented threats and harassment since 2023. "I feel like they will kill me," she said, adding that she did not feel safe even with police present. She requested journalists to escort her out of the building and framed her legal ordeal as evidence of what she called the "shamelessness" of the Marcos government. Her lawyers advised her that posting bail would allow the public to serve as a form of protection.
The grave threats charges are separate from but closely connected to Duterte's ongoing Senate impeachment trial, where she was impeached by the House of Representatives — the lower house of the Philippine parliament — in May. That trial, now in its ninth week, includes additional charges of graft and corruption. Under Philippine law, a criminal conviction on grave threats carries a jail term of up to six months, while a guilty verdict in the Senate impeachment trial would remove her from office and permanently bar her from public life, including a widely anticipated presidential run in 2028.
The case represents a dramatic escalation in what has become one of the Philippines' most consequential political confrontations in recent years. Duterte and Marcos were once political allies who ran together in the 2022 elections, but their relationship broke down publicly, setting the stage for the legal and legislative battles now unfolding simultaneously.