MANILA, Philippines — Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte posted bail Saturday after an order was issued for her arrest the previous day on charges that she publicly threatened to arrange the assassination of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and two other people.
Emerging in a black outfit from Quezon City Regional Trial Court in Metro Manila, Duterte consoled her supporters, hugging a woman who was sobbing as supporters chanted “Duterte! Duterte!”
The vice president, who has denied the allegations, showed a court order lifting the arrest warrant issued by the court Friday and said her lawyers instructed her to keep a copy on hand. She urged journalists to surround her on the way to her car because she did not feel safe.
“If possible please go with me, because I do not feel safe with all these police personnel who are harassing those at my home, harassing me since 2023,” Duterte said. “What does this administration really want to do with me?”
Paul Lawrence Lim, one of her attorneys, said court staff took Duterte’s fingerprints and she posted 360,000 pesos bail ($5,740) for three counts of grave threats.
After the arrest order was issued Friday, he said Duterte would fight the charges.
“She has no intention of evading the law and will continue to exercise all her legal remedies,” he said in a statement.
Case based on comments during online news conference
The case is seen as part of a high-stakes political showdown pitting Duterte against Marcos. A conviction may permanently disqualify her from holding public office and prohibit her from seeking the presidency in 2028, when Marcos’s six-year term ends.
The charges stem from an alleged threat Duterte, 48, made during a 2024 online news conference. She said she would have Marcos, his wife and then-House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez killed by an assassin if she herself was killed as their political disputes escalated.
The vice president warned during the event that her threat was not a joke.
Duterte later said she was expressing concern for her own safety and not threatening Marcos as the remarks set off a criminal investigation and national security concerns.
The House of Representatives, which is dominated by Marcos’ allies, voted overwhelmingly in May to impeach Duterte over allegations of unexplained wealth, misuse of confidential state funds and the online news conference threats. The Philippine Senate, acting as an impeachment court, opened her televised trial in July.
Former political partners turned rivals
Marcos and Duterte were running mates in the 2022 elections in an alliance that combined two of the country’s most formidable political dynasties.
Marcos is the son of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., who held the office from the 1960s to the 1980s, including a period of repression and martial law. The vice president is the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, the predecessor to the current President Marcos.
Rodrigo Duterte was arrested in 2025 on orders of the International Criminal Court and detained in The Hague, where he is scheduled to face a trial beginning in late November over alleged crimes against humanity connected to a brutal anti-drug crackdown that left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead. He has denied authorizing extrajudicial killings but repeatedly threatened suspects with death while in office.
Sara Duterte previously criticized the Marcos administration for surrendering her father to a foreign court, which currently has no jurisdiction over the Philippines.
Marcos and Sara Duterte also have contrasting geopolitical leanings.
Marcos has expanded defense engagements with the United States, a treaty ally of the Philippines, as his administration stood up to China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea.
The vice president has come under fire for not condemning China’s assaults, including with the use of powerful water cannons, against Filipino forces and fishermen in the disputed waters.
