Screengrab from Vice President Sara Duterte’s online media briefing in November 2024 where she made assassination threats.
Manuel Mogato | September 5, 2026
MANILA — A regional trial court has issued an arrest warrant against Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio for making death threats to the president, his wife, and first cousin in 2024, her lawyer said.
Duterte is the first sitting vice president to face criminal charges in a local court. The same complaint was the subject of an impeachment trial that could remove her from office and ban her from seeking any public office.
Paul Lawrence Lim said the vice president “has no intention of evading the law and will continue to exercise all her legal remedies” after receiving a copy of the arrest warrant.
In a separate statement, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said the Quezon City court had set the bail at 120,000 pesos for each count of grave threats. (Also read: Vice President’s threats were “serious” — witness)
The city’s Branch 98 court also denied the vice president’s motion to defer or recall the warrants against her. She faced three counts of grave threats.
“The Department respects the Court’s ruling and reaffirms its commitment to the rule of law,” the Justice Department’s spokesman Raphael Martinez said.
“The actions taken today strongly demonstrate the government’s dedication to ensuring that all officials operate within a framework of integrity and accountability,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
The actions taken today strongly demonstrate the government’s dedication to ensuring that all officials operate within a framework of integrity and accountability,’ the DOJ says
He said three counts of grave threats were filed against Duterte in August, in connection with assassination threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his wife Liza and cousin, ex-House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
The National Bureau of Investigation has filed grave threats against Duterte after her infamous midnight press conference on November 23, 2024. (Also read: NBI has 20 persons that can identity Vice President “killer”)
She had told supporters not to worry about her safety, saying she had already “talked to someone” who would assassinate Marcos and his family if she were killed.
Duterte repeated the threats, saying she was not joking.
The grave threats were also part of the four articles of impeachment against Duterte in her ongoing impeachment trial.
Duterte’s lawyers had also sought oral hearings, arguing that Duterte cannot face a criminal case because she is an impeachable official.
Legal experts have said the vice president is not immune from suit, unlike the president.
Congresswoman Leila de Lima, who was jailed during her father’s administration, said Duterte may not be used to being held accountable, “but now she must answer the accusations against her in a criminal court.”
