THE Quezon City Regional Trial Court has once again deferred the arraignment of Vice President Sara in connection with the three counts of grave threats filed against her.
Duterte appeared on Friday at the Quezon City Hall of Justice for the arraignment only to hear Judge Maria Angelica de Ramos of Branch 98 announce the postponement for the second time.
The vice president’s lawyer, Paul Lawrence Lim, said the judge deferred the arraignment because of pending motions, including one appealing the denial of an inhibition request against the presiding judge, as well as a pending petition before the Supreme Court.
De Ramos set another date which Lim refused to publicly disclose citing the sub judice rule.
Last month, De Ramos dismissed Duterte’s motion for her to inhibit from the case for lack of merit.
She ruled there was “no cogent reason for her to inhibit or recuse herself from hearing these cases.”
The Department of Justice filed three counts of grave threats against Duterte arising from her controversial remarks during an online press conference on Nov. 23, 2024, concerning President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and then-House speaker Martin Romualdez.
She was quoted as saying she had contracted someone to kill Marcos, Araneta-Marcos and Romualdez if she herself were assassinated.
Duterte issued the statement after the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, which was investigating alleged irregularities in the use of confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President, ordered the transfer of her chief of staff, undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, from the House of Representatives detention facility to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City.
Duterte posted bail on Sept. 5, a day after the court issued the warrant against her.
