Philippine court orders arrest of Vice President Sara Duterte over alleged threats against Marcos

A court in Quezon City, near Manila, has ordered the arrest of Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte over allegations linked to threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The warrant was issued on Friday after judges rejected a request by her lawyers to delay the move. The case adds a new legal challenge for one of the country's most prominent political figures.

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The court set bail at $1,900 for each of three grave-threat charges filed against Duterte last month. According to the allegations, she threatened to have Marcos, his wife and Martin Romualdez killed by a hitman. Duterte has denied wrongdoing and said she was expressing fear for her own safety after her political break with Marcos.

A justice department spokesman confirmed the warrant and rejected the argument from Duterte's legal team that she cannot be prosecuted while the same conduct is being examined in her impeachment trial. Her lawyer said she had no intention of evading the law and would continue to use all available legal remedies. Officials expect her to post bail quickly, and she is not expected to be detained for long.

The arrest order comes at a sensitive moment for Duterte, who is already facing an impeachment process in the Senate. That trial is based on allegations including corruption and unexplained wealth, and a guilty verdict would remove her from office. It would also end her hopes of running for president in 2028, making the criminal case politically significant as well as legally serious.

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The dispute dates back to November 2024, when Duterte said she had arranged for a hitman to kill Marcos, his wife and Romualdez if she were killed. At the time, she and Marcos had already fallen out after winning office together in 2022 as running mates. Their alliance later collapsed into open hostility, turning a once-unified ticket into a major source of political conflict.

Duterte is the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, whose own political legacy remains central to the country's current power struggle. The Senate hearing in her impeachment case has been running for nine weeks, underscoring how the legal and political tracks are moving in parallel. What remains unclear is how quickly she will post bail and how the criminal case will interact with the impeachment process in the weeks ahead.

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