By: Itchie G. Cabayan
A warrant of arrest was issued against Vice President Sara Duterte in connection with her grave threats case, which stems from her past public pronouncements that she had instructed a person to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, in case something happens to her.
The warrant was issued on Friday (September 4) by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 98 where she faces three counts of grave threats. The case is bailable in the amount of P120,000 for each count.
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the RTC denied Duterte’s “Motion to Defer the Issuance of or Recall Arrest Warrant and Quash the Information.”
In issuing the arrest warrant, the court also found probable cause to hold Duterte for trial on all three counts of grave threats. and ordered the issuance of the arrest warrant, according to the DOJ.
In a statement, the office of VP Duterte confirmed having received the warrant.
“I confirm that I was given notice of a warrant of arrest dated September 4, 2026 issued by Judge Maria Angelica De Ramos of Branch 98, Quezon City and served by PNP Col Christine Tabdi in the Office of the Vice President. My lawyers Attys. Paul Lim and Clifford Chua will attend to this matter immediately,” the VP said.
Meanwhile, Lim said Duterte and her team will exhaust legal remedies available to them, adding: “Regardless of the question on jurisdiction, she has no intention of evading the law and will continue to exercise all her legal remedies.”
It will be recalled that on August 11, 2026, prosecutors filed the complaint against Duterte based on findings forwarded to the DOJ in February last year by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
The grave threats case was based on Duterte’s online press conferences in October and December 2024, where she declared as ‘no joke’ that she had instructed someone to kill the said three officials and that the said person had agreed.
