Vice President Sara Duterte seized on comments by Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla to argue that the government has been tracking her, framing his account of her movements as evidence supporting files she says she has kept for years on monitoring and intimidation directed at her.
Her reaction came after Remulla addressed her stated refusal to place herself in police custody before posting bail at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court on Saturday, September 6, 2026. Duterte had said she did not trust either the police or the courts to keep her safe.
Remulla, defending the conduct of law enforcement, said the vice president’s assessment of her situation had been distorted by the strain she is under. “It’s very unfortunate that all the pressure in her life is affecting her perception. The PNP accorded her all the respect her position deserves… We knew of her whereabouts the night before but we did not force the warrant of arrest,” he said.
Duterte treated that admission as confirmation rather than reassurance. “Ang mga salitang ito ni Secretary Jonvic Remulla ay tila nagpapatibay sa mga dokumentong matagal na naming hawak hinggil sa harassment at surveillance operations ng PNP at iba pang ahensya ng gobyerno laban sa akin,” she said.
She then turned the secretary’s own words back on him, pressing him to explain why officers approached her relatives if the government already knew where she was. “At dahil alam ninyo kung nasaan ako, isang mahalagang tanong ang dapat ninyong sagutin— bakit niyo pa kinakailangang puntahan ang aking ina at mga anak? Isa lamang ang malinaw na sagot —upang takutin at sindakin ang aking pamilya,” she added, according to a statement she issued the same day.
The exchange unfolded a day after the Quezon City court ordered her arrest. According to the Inquirer, a copy of the warrant dated September 4 and signed by Presiding Judge Maria Angelica De Ramos set bail at P120,000 for each of three counts of grave threats, filed under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. Duterte ultimately paid P360,000 in total to secure her release.
The charges trace back to a November 2024 online press briefing in which Duterte said she had arranged for someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez should she herself be killed. The same episode figures among the articles in her ongoing impeachment trial before the Senate.
Duterte has said her lawyers advised that posting bail was a safer course than surrendering to police, given what she describes as documented threats and harassment reaching back to 2023. Her counsel, Paul Lawrence Lim, told reporters that she appeared voluntarily and completed the required booking steps, including fingerprinting, so an actual arrest was never necessary.
Separately, the Department of Justice reported that Branch 98 of the Quezon City court had rejected a motion by Duterte’s legal team to defer or recall the warrant. DOJ spokesperson Polo Martinez said the case would now move to trial, adding that the department respects the ruling and stands by the rule of law.
