Vice President Sara Duterte is fighting two cases at once. One is political: a Senate impeachment trial that has already stretched into its ninth week. The other is criminal: a Quezon City court warrant this week over alleged death threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family. She posted bail. The trial continues. Her 2028 presidential bid is still on the table.
What just happened
On Friday, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 98 issued an arrest warrant for three counts of grave threats. The case traces back to remarks Duterte made in November 2024, when she said she had arranged a hit on Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and then–House Speaker Martin Romualdez. Those same alleged threats are also in the impeachment articles.
She appeared in court on Saturday and posted ₱360,000 bail. She was not taken into custody. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said authorities knew where she was and chose not to “force” the warrant. Malacañang said it respects the court. House prosecutors said the criminal case is separate from the Senate trial and will not stop it. PDP-Laban called the warrant an attack. Former Senate President Franklin Drilon said the two tracks do not cancel each other.
The impeachment, in brief
Duterte is the first Philippine official the House has impeached twice. The first attempt, in 2025, was struck down by the Supreme Court on a one-year ban technicality. After that ban lapsed, the House voted again on May 11, 2026: 257 yes, 25 no, 9 abstentions. The Senate opened as an impeachment court on July 6.
The four articles allege:
- misuse of about ₱612.5 million in confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education
- unexplained wealth and undeclared bank transactions
- bribery tied to DepEd procurement
- grave threats against the president, the first lady, and Romualdez
Conviction in the Senate needs a two-thirds vote — 16 of 24 senators, if all seats are counted. Several senator-judges are absent or sidelined, which has already produced fights over who presides and how the math works. Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero was elected presiding officer. The calendar is long: scores of hearing days, with the defense block expected well into 2027.
This past week the prosecution presented AFP officers on DepEd confidential funds and former DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa. It also dropped some planned witnesses, including people the panel had described as fund handlers. That is a sign the case is being trimmed as it goes, not that it is over.
Duterte has denied the charges. In July she told reporters she would be “bloodied but unbowed.” She did not attend opening day; she has appeared around the Senate since. Her camp has treated the case as both a legal fight and a political one.
Why it matters beyond the courtroom
In February she announced she will run for president in 2028. A conviction would remove her from office and bar her from holding another one. An acquittal, or a trial that simply drags, leaves her as the clearest opposition figure to Marcos with a national machine behind her.
The family backdrop is not separate from the politics. Former President Rodrigo Duterte is detained in The Hague on an ICC case over the drug war. Sara has called for his release and framed the local cases as part of the same feud that began when the 2022 UniTeam alliance with Marcos collapsed. Allies such as Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa have their own legal problems. Midterm results in 2025 already showed Duterte-backed names beating several Marcos picks.
None of that decides the facts of the confidential-funds audit or the threats case. Those will be argued in the Senate and in Quezon City, with bank and tax records now more reachable after court rulings the prosecution wanted. Duterte’s side will argue persecution and procedure. The House panel will argue money and words.
The state of play on September 6, 2026
- She remains vice president.
- She is out on bail on the grave-threats charges.
- The impeachment trial is in the prosecution phase, mid-stream, not near a verdict.
- She is a declared 2028 candidate unless the Senate convicts her.
That is Sara Duterte now: still in office, under two legal clocks, and still pointing at 2028. The next move is not a speech. It is whether the Senate can finish a trial before the campaign season starts writing the ending for it.