A prosecutor from the House impeachment panel on Saturday urged Vice President Sara Duterte to confront the accusations behind her grave threats indictment rather than shift the blame elsewhere.
Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon framed his call around the very question the Vice President had raised about accountability. “‘Sinong mananagot?’ Kayo po, Madam Vice President, ang kailangang managot at sumagot sa mga alegasyong kinakaharap ninyo,” he said in a statement.
The lawmaker traced the case directly to Duterte’s own words. “Tama na po ang drama. Wala naman pong grave threats case ngayon kung hindi dahil sa mga pahayag na naging batayan ng kasong isinampa laban sa inyo,” he said, before adding, “Harapin po ninyo ang proseso at ilahad po ninyo ang inyong depensa sa korte.”
Ridon spoke up after the Vice President, appearing at the Quezon City Hall of Justice earlier that day, said she had lost confidence in the institutions handling her case. She had gone to the courthouse following the issuance of a warrant covering three counts of grave threats.
Speaking with her legal counsel outside the building, Duterte described a sense of danger she said she could not shake. “I really do not feel safe. Wala akong tiwala sa korte, wala akong tiwala sa pulis. I do not feel safe,” she said. She pointed to what she called harassment near her family. “I do not feel safe. Hinarass nila yung lugar kung nasaan yung nanay ko at saka yung anak ko. Saan ako pupunta?”
A lawyer herself, Duterte argued that no available option would shield her. “Mag-bail ako, hindi titigil yung harassment. Hindi ako mag-bail, pupunta ako sa pulis, wala akong tiwala sa pulis. Wala nga akong tiwala sa korte,” she said. She then pressed the point on who would answer if something happened to her: “Sino sasagot pag namatay ako mamayang gabi? Sinong mananagot? Siyempre, maghuhugas-kamay lang yung pulis, make it look like an accident. Maghuhugas-kamay lang yung judge. I do not feel safe at all, kahit anong gawin ko.”
The three counts trace back to an online press briefing in November 2024, during which Duterte said she had instructed someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and then-Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez should she herself be killed.
The court’s order to arrest her rested on its determination that probable cause existed to send the case to trial on all three counts.
