THE Quezon City Regional Trial Court on Friday, September 11, 2026, deferred the arraignment of Vice President Sara Duterte on charges of grave threats.
Less than an hour after arriving at the Quezon City Hall of Justice, Duterte and her brother, Rep. Paolo Duterte, left the building after the court granted a defense motion to defer the arraignment.
Duterte’s legal counsel, Atty. Paul Lawrence Lim, declined to disclose the nature of the motion.
“But included among our requests was to defer her arraignment while the judge studies the motion. The judge granted the request to defer the arraignment,” Lim said in Tagalog.
Duterte’s camp filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition on August 21 against the information filed before the Quezon City court, seeking to halt the proceedings and have the charges declared void.
The Vice President is facing three counts of grave threats stemming from her statement that she had contracted someone to kill President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and then House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she herself were killed.
She made the statement during an online press conference in the early hours of November 23, 2024.
Duterte posted bail after the court issued an arrest warrant against her on September 4, 2026.
After leaving the Quezon City Hall of Justice, Duterte proceeded to meet her supporters in front of City Hall, where she repeatedly called for the resignation of Marcos, saying this was necessary to end the suffering of Filipino families.
“I saw with my own eyes the abuse by Marcos. Remember, we will continue to call for the removal of the problem facing our country, whose name is Bongbong Marcos. Leave, you liar, you abuser,” Duterte said in Tagalog.
“He has no gratitude to the Filipino people, no gratitude to all those who went to the polls to put him in office. He has no shame. That’s what happens when you’re an addict—you no longer think based on reality. We will continue to fight against abusers, addicts and corrupt officials,” she added. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)