THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has formally filed three counts of grave threats against Vice President Sara Duterte over remarks she made in 2024 stating she had ordered someone to kill President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and former House speaker Martin Romualdez should anything happen to her.
The charges were filed with the Quezon City Regional Trial Court on Tuesday afternoon, following an investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) that first recommended filing the complaint back in February 2025. In a separate development, the DOJ announced that the accompanying complaint for inciting to sedition had been dismissed.
The case stems from an online press briefing in which Duterte publicly declared she had given instructions to carry out retaliatory killings if an alleged plot against her life succeeded. Her remarks drew immediate condemnation and triggered a formal NBI inquiry, which also examined whether there was evidence of conspiracy involving the Vice President and her brother, Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte. The complaints remained under review at the DOJ as the Vice President’s impeachment trial began, creating a legal overlap between the criminal proceedings and the impeachment process.
Duterte’s legal counsel, Atty. Paul Lawrence Lim, confirmed the filing of the grave threats charges and the dismissal of the sedition complaint, stating the camp had anticipated the outcome and was prepared to defend the Vice President in court. Lim emphasized that as a sitting impeachable officer, Duterte maintains she cannot be prosecuted for an offense that is also the subject of an ongoing impeachment case. Duterte herself has previously argued that her words were “maliciously taken out of logical context” and that her statement was intended only to highlight threats against her security, not to issue actual threats against others.
metrosundaily
