Impunity dissolving around VP, says international human rights group

Sara Duterte finally charged over ‘grave threats’

A media statement by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) on the impeachment trial of VP Sara Duterte
September 8, 2026

“Do not worry about my security because I already spoke to someone. I said, 'If I am killed, kill BBM, Liza Araneta, and Martin Romualdez.' No joke, no joke.” – Nov 23, 2024

How could there have been any doubt that this brazen statement by Vice President Sara Duterte almost two years ago was most likely illegal? But it took until August 2026 for the Department of Justice to say so, and for a warrant of arrest to be issued on September 4. The Vice-President faced court on September 5, failed in her bid to have the warrant of arrest withdrawn or delayed, and instead paid bail (US$1,915 on each charge), was fingerprinted and then released.

“The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) welcomes the long overdue charging of Vice President Duterte for her 2024 threats to kill political opponents. This is another important step towards ending the culture of impunity which is rampant in Filipino society,” said Peter Murphy, ICHRP Chairperson.

VP Duterte is also charged over these alleged grave threats in the ongoing impeachment trial in the Senate. There, the penalty, if found guilty, would be blockage in the 2028 presidential election. In a criminal trial, a guilty verdict would mean up to six months imprisonment on each of the three charges of grave threat.

Neither Sara Duterte nor her three targets have been killed since November 2024. So these new charges appear to be politically motivated, and the beneficiaries would be the Marcos family. The criminal charges and the charges in the impeachment trial are all of a package, and seem to show the Marcos family maximising the political and judicial processes to remove the Duterte family from any opportunity to take the presidency at the 2028 election.

Despite the likely benefit to the Marcos family in the short term, there can be no doubt that effective legal accountability for Sara Duterte is both vital to democracy and hugely popular in the Philippines.

Just as the International Criminal Court trial of former President Rodrigo Duterte – set to open on November 30 – is a warning to incumbent President Marcos Jr and other senior officials, the impeachment in the Senate and now these criminal charges against Sara Duterte are also a warning to the Marcos family that they are not immune from accountability for their own alleged plunder and violations of human rights. Marcos Jr himself deserves condemnation for enabling the crimes of Sara Duterte. It must be remembered that prior to the bitter breakup of their dynastic team up in 2024, Duterte and Marcos Jr formed the so-called “Uniteam” alliance for the 2022 Philippine elections.

The motivation for Sara Duterte’s alleged grave threats has been already exposed in the impeachment trial.

Her November 2024 outburst was after midnight and outside a detention facility at the House of Representatives, where her Chief of Staff, Ms Zuleika Lopez, was being held for contempt. Lopez had written to the Commission of Audit to tell them not to comply with a subpoena issued by the House Committee on Good Governance and Public Accountability. This committee was investigating the spending of discretionary and intelligence funds by Sara Duterte as Secretary of the Department of Education and as Vice-President. The total under investigation was P612.5 million (US$9.77 million).

Whether the Vice-President was infuriated or rattled by the sudden detention of her Chief of Staff, she reacted with death threats against those she believed were behind this detention.