Dennis Gasgonia

Article (news)

Vivienne Gulla

Victoria Tulad

ABS-CBN News

MANILA - The arrest warrant issued by a Quezon City Regional Trial Court against Vice President Sara Duterte over the grave threats case filed against her shows that the court saw &ldquo;probable cause&rdquo;, according to two House members.ML Party List Rep. Leila de Lima said Duterte &ldquo;must answer the accusations against her in a criminal court&rdquo;.&ldquo;VP Sara&rsquo;s threat speaks for itself. Kahit paikut-ikutin o daanin sa mga palusot, napakalinaw ng pagbabanta. Ang paglalabas ng warrant of arrest ng korte ay nangangahulugan na matapos nitong suriin ang ebidensyang nasa record, nakitaan ito ng sapat na dahilan upang litisin ang Bise Presidente,&rdquo; De Lima said in a statement.&nbsp;&ldquo;VP Sara may not be used to being held accountable, but now she must answer the accusations against her in a criminal court. Hindi na nga dapat tumagal ito, but at least, it&#39;s finally happening,&rdquo; she added.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/9/4/sara-duterte-arrest-warrant-grave-threats-1442">Sara Duterte faces arrest warrant for grave threats case&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;</div>Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, for his part, said &ldquo;although the issuance of an arrest warrant isn&rsquo;t automatically equated to guilt, as the principle of due process must be strictly observed, the court would not be issuing an arrest warrant without probable cause&rdquo;.&nbsp;&ldquo;She is still entitled to avail of all the legal remedies available to her,&rdquo; Adiong added.The case stemmed from Duterte&#39;s statement in a November 2024 online briefing that she had talked to someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez should she be assassinated. The Vice President has since said her remarks were taken out of context.&nbsp;Duterte&rsquo;s statements were also cited in an impeachment article accusing her of committing alleged &ldquo;grave threats&rdquo;.House Impeachment Prosecutor Terry Ridon clarified that the court case is &ldquo;separate&rdquo; from the impeachment case.&nbsp;&ldquo;The impeachment proceedings are a separate constitutional accountability process. The Senate Impeachment Court will independently determine the matters properly before it. No one should prejudge either proceeding,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;The courts and the Impeachment Court should be allowed to perform their respective constitutional duties. For its part, the House prosecution panel will continue performing its constitutional mandate and prosecute the impeachment case until its conclusion,&rdquo; Ridon added.&ldquo;We take note of the statement that Vice President Sara Duterte has no intention of evading the law and will avail herself of the legal remedies available to her&hellip; The Vice President will have every opportunity to present her defenses before the proper court,&rdquo; he noted.<div> </div><div>&#39;TIMING SUSPECT&#39;</div>Meanwhile, Senator Bong Go sees the timing of the issuance of the arrest warrant against Duterte as &quot;suspect&quot;.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/9/3/prosecution-gets-copy-of-sara-duterte-s-bank-tax-records-1836">Prosecution gets copy of Sara Duterte&#39;s bank, tax records&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;</div>The Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 98 issued the warrant of arrest on Friday in relation to the accusation of grave threats against Duterte.&ldquo;Bakit ngayon? Bakit ngayon yung panahon na ongoing yung impeachment? Daming panahon pa noon eh, even before the impeachment. Even before the impeachment, puwede namang mai-file yun. Bakit ngayon yung timing talaga nun? Nagkatugma,&rdquo; Go, an ally of Duterte, said.&ldquo;Diba nangyari po yun, that was two years ago. Almost two years ago,&rdquo; Go added. &ldquo;November 2024.&rdquo;&nbsp;Go refused to elaborate and said he is certain Duterte&rsquo;s team will do everything it can.The senator is also confident Duterte can handle the case against her.&ldquo;I believe kaya naman po niya,&rdquo; Go said. &ldquo;Sanay naman po yun si Vice President sa mga ganoong sitwasyon.&rdquo;Go believes the proceedings in the QC RTC will not affect the impeachment trial being conducted in the Senate.&ldquo;Kaiba naman po siguro yun dahil nasa korte naman po ito. Nasa RTC po ito. Iba naman po yung korte namin dito,&rdquo; Go said.&nbsp;The impeachment court has held 21 trial days and is currently tackling the alleged misuse of confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and Department of Education (DepEd), which Duterte previously held.

The arrest warrant issued by a Quezon City Regional Trial Court against Vice President Sara Duterte over the grave threats case filed against her shows that the court saw “probable cause”, according to two House members.

The arrest warrant issued by a Quezon City Regional Trial Court against Vice President Sara Duterte over the grave threats case filed against her shows that the court saw “probable cause”, according to two House members.

Arrest warrant against Sara Duterte shows 'probable cause'— De Lima

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Arrest warrant against Sara Duterte shows 'probable cause'— De Lima

Vivienne Gulla,

Victoria Tulad,

ABS-CBN News

Published September 04, 2026 06:15 PM PHT

Read More:

Leila de Lima

House of Representatives

Sara Duterte

Warrant

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