MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte said Saturday she feared for her life following the Quezon City Regional Trial Court’s issuance of an arrest warrant against her.
Duterte said she had left the place where her children were staying to go to court, but the arresting officers were still there.
She said she feared for her children and did not feel they were safe if she was with them.
“I do not feel safe. I feel like they will kill me,” said Duterte who was expected to post bail on charges of grave threats.
She said she had been documenting threats and harassment against her since 2023.
Duterte is facing an impeachment trial where the grave threat charge is one of four Articles of Impeachment filed against her.
The case stemmed from statements caught on video where she threatened to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos and then Speaker Martin Romualdez killed if anything were to happen to her.
Meanwhile, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan on Saturday denounced the arrest order as an “assault” on the political opposition, accusing the Marcos administration of weaponizing government institutions against its critics.
PDP-Laban National Spokesman Ferdinand Topacio also questioned the court’s issuance of the warrant, pointing to the recent appointment of its presiding judge by the president.
“The blatant attempt to decimate the political opposition is disingenuous yet obvious,” Topacio said.
He accused the administration of placing people “beholden” to it in key government positions and using state agencies as “weapons of mass harassment” against those who challenge what he called corruption “masterminded by the Palace.”
PDP-Laban vowed to remain at the forefront of what it described as a fight for the country’s democratic way of life, ending its statement with a declaration of support for Duterte.
The PDP-Laban is the political party of former president Rodrigo Duterte, the vice president's father.
He is detained at The Hague, Netherlands, after he was ordered arrested in March 2025 by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity.
