Vice President Sara Duterte has cast doubt on whether she can expect fair treatment from the country’s law enforcement agencies and courts, arguing that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. exercises influence over senators, prosecutors, judges and police officers alike.
Her comments came in a video statement circulated online on Monday, September 8, 2025, in which she framed the cases against her as a campaign of “political harassment” waged by the administration. In the same message, she voiced sympathy for Filipinos coping with flooding and with a currency slump that saw the peso sink to a historic low of P62.77 to the US dollar.
The Vice President tied her present situation to information she says reached her the previous year. According to Duterte, she was warned in 2024 that the Marcos camp intended to move against her and that her father would ultimately be taken into custody over charges of crimes against humanity.
Because responsibility for her protection falls under the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Duterte said she brought several concerns directly to Gen. Romeo Brawner during his time as AFP chief. Chief among them was the safety of her family. “I asked that my mother and children be respected and protected and that they not be implicated or intimidated in any way that may be done to me,” she said. Reports place her security contingent at roughly 470 personnel.
Responding to her remarks, PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. urged forbearance, saying the situation “need patience and understanding,” and gave assurances that the police force remains dedicated to “lawful, professional and impartial police operations.”
Duterte offered no proof to back the alleged threats. What is on record is a 2024 news conference in which she disclosed a plan to have Marcos and his relatives assassinated should she be killed—an episode that now forms part of the impeachment case moving through the Senate. On Saturday, September 5, 2025, she put up P360,000 in bail to answer three counts of grave threats.
