THE camp of Vice President Sara Duterte is seeking the conduct of oral arguments in connection with its motion to quash the grave threats cases against her.
In a statement, Attorney Paul Lawrence Lim, Duterte’s counsel for the complaints filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), filed a manifestation emphasizing the need for oral arguments “considering the far-reaching consequences of the grave threats cases.”
“If a sitting Vice President may be indicted and prosecuted, then other incumbent impeachable officers such as the Ombudsman, members of the Constitutional Commissions, Supreme Court justices, and even the President may also be indicted and prosecuted,” said Lim.
The Department of Justice earlier confirmed that complaints for grave threats against Duterte were formally filed before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC).
However, the inciting to sedition complaint filed by the NBI against Duterte was dismissed after the panel of prosecutors found no prima facie evidence with reasonable certainty of conviction.
Both cases stemmed from Duterte’s remark that she had contracted someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she herself were killed during an online press conference in the early hours of November 23, 2025.
Duterte made the remark after the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, which was then investigating alleged irregularities in the use of funds by the Office of the Vice President (OVP), ordered the transfer of her chief of staff, Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, from the House of Representatives facility to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City. Lopez had been cited in contempt by the panel over alleged “undue interference.”
Duterte also hurled expletives at the Marcos couple and Romualdez, accusing them of putting her staff in hot water amid what she described as political demolition against her.
The remarks, which the NBI said constituted grave threats, form part of the impeachment complaint against Duterte. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)