Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte posts bail after arrest

Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte posts bail after an order was issued for her arrest on charges that she publicly threatened to arrange the assassination of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and two other people.

Emerging from Quezon City Regional Trial Court in Metro Manila in a black outfit, the vice president shows a court order lifting the arrest warrant issued by the court Friday and says her lawyers instructed her to keep a copy on hand.

She urges journalists to surround her on the way to her car because she did not “feel safe.”

After the arrest order was issued on Friday, her lawyer says Duterte voluntarily appeared to the court and would fight the charges.

She has posted a 360,000 pesos bail for three counts of grave threats.

Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives in May on the threat charges, as well as alleged financial anomalies.

She has denied the allegations.

A conviction may permanently disqualify her from holding public office and prohibit her from seeking the presidency in 2028, when Marcos’s six-year term ends.

The charges stem from an alleged threat the 48-year-old Duterte made during a 2024 online news conference.

The vice president warned her threat was not a joke though later saying she was only expressing concerns for her own safety and not threatening Marcos.

Marcos and Duterte were running mates in the 2022 elections in an alliance combined two of the country’s most formidable political dynasties.