Arrest warrant out vs Sara Duterte in grave threats case

MANILA, Philippines — A warrant of arrest has been issued against Vice President Sara Duterte in the case accusing her of great threats when she mentioned having contracted a hitman to target President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos and then-speaker Martin Romualdez.

Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 98 released the warrant on Friday, September 5, for three counts of grave threats.

The court set the bail for Duterte at P120,000 for each count.

Duterte's counsel, Paul Lawrence Lim, said the vice president and her team will exhaust avenues allowed by the law.

"Regardless of the question on jurisdiction, she has no intention of evading the law and will continue to exercise all her legal remedies," Lim's statement read.

State prosecutors filed the complaint against Duterte on August 11, amid the ongoing Senate impeachment trial on her. The threats the vice president made at online press conferences in October and December 2024 are subject to one of the charges—Article IV—that led to her second impeachment at the House of Representatives.

The case was in response to the National Bureau of Investigation's findings forwarded to the Department of Justice in February 2025.