Vice President Sara Duterte did not have a conventional police mugshot taken when she posted bail at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court on September 5, 2026, with her legal counsel arguing that the standard police procedure did not apply because she appeared before the court voluntarily.
Counsel Paul Lawrence Lim said mugshots are taken by police only when a person has been arrested. Because Duterte presented herself to the court that issued the warrant rather than being taken into custody, her camp maintained that the police booking step was unnecessary. “Again, the Vice President voluntarily appeared before the court,” Lim said.
In place of a police mugshot, Duterte submitted her own photographs to the court, showing her from the left, right, and front, along with an image of her holding a sheet of paper bearing her name and the charges against her. Court personnel still recorded her fingerprints as part of the booking process. Lim said she was not given special treatment and went through the same procedure as any accused individual.
Judge Maria Angelica De Ramos of Branch 98 lifted the arrest warrant, issued the previous day, after Duterte posted P360,000 in bail — P120,000 for each of three counts of grave threats tied to remarks that she had ordered someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former speaker Martin Romualdez should she be killed first. Duterte has said the comments were misconstrued.
The explanation drew immediate pushback. House prosecutor Terry Ridon disputed the account, saying the Philippine National Police had waived its ordinary booking procedures for the vice president. Ridon said the same process should apply to everyone, whether an ordinary citizen or the vice president.
