MANILA: A Philippine court on Friday (Sep 4) issued an arrest warrant for Vice President Sara Duterte over an alleged death threat against the country’s president, with her defence team saying she would “exercise all her legal remedies”.
Duterte was charged last month with “grave threats” stemming from a late-night news briefing in which she claimed to have hired a hitman to kill President Ferdinand Marcos, his wife and a former congressman cousin should she be cut down first.
The alleged assassination threat also forms a crucial element of her ongoing Senate impeachment trial, where a guilty verdict would see her removed from office and permanently banned from politics.
Under the Philippine legal code, a criminal conviction on the charge would carry a jail term of up to six months.
Justice department spokesman Polo Martinez confirmed the warrant had been issued, noting that a court in Metro Manila’s Quezon City had quashed a motion to defer it.
But the warrant seemed unlikely to result in Duterte being taken into custody.
Paolo Tamase, associate dean at the University of the Philippines College of Law, told AFP that Duterte’s lawyers could now be expected to file for bail, perhaps before day’s end.
“The easiest thing for VP Sara to do is to file for bail with the regional trial court,” Tamase said in a phone interview, noting Duterte would likely not need to be present.
He added that the warrant could yet be challenged at a higher court.
“She can potentially question the issuance of the warrant of arrest, which means she would go up to the Court of Appeals or potentially the Supreme Court,” he said.
The vice president’s legal team issued a statement saying she had “no intention of evading the law and will continue to exercise all her legal remedies”.
Calls to her defence lawyers seeking comment were not returned.
Justice department officials have rejected arguments by the vice president’s legal team that she cannot be prosecuted for offences that are also tied to her impeachment.
Duterte was impeached in May by the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, on charges that also included graft and corruption.
A guilty verdict in the Senate – where her trial recently concluded its ninth week – would spell an end to a planned run for president in 2028.
Duterte first announced her candidacy in February.
