Vice President Sara Duterte said she fears for her life and the safety of her children as she arrived at the Quezon City Hall of Justice on Saturday, September 5, 2026, a day after a court ordered her arrest over a grave threats case.
In a statement issued by the Office of the Vice President, Duterte said she had been documenting threats and harassment against her since 2023. “I fear for my children. I do not feel they are safe if I am with them,” she said. She added in Filipino that she had already left the place where her children were staying in order to appear in court, but police still went there. “I do not feel safe. Pakiramdam ko papatayin nila ako” (I feel like they will kill me), she said.
Her statement did not detail the threats and harassment she said she had documented, nor did she identify the police officers she referred to.
The Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 98 issued the arrest warrant on Friday, September 4, 2026, after the Department of Justice charged Duterte with three counts of grave threats under Republic Act 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act. Judge Maria Angelica de Ramos signed the warrant, which was served by police at the Office of the Vice President. The court set bail at P120,000 for each count, or P360,000 total.
The charges stem from Duterte’s November 2024 online press briefing, in which she said she had hired someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez should she herself be killed. In issuing the warrant, the court found probable cause to hold her for trial and denied her motion to defer or recall the warrant and quash the information.
Duterte’s counsel, Atty. Paul Lawrence Lim, said the Vice President has no intention of evading the law and will exhaust all available legal remedies, adding that she continues to be presumed innocent. The grave threats charge is also among the articles of impeachment she faces in a separate Senate trial.
