Sara Duterte deemed 'surrendered' as she appears in court for grave threats case

Vice President Sara Duterte is considered "surrendered" to authorities as she prepares to comply with the process to post bail for her grave threats case, her lawyer Michael Poa said Saturday. "Well, yeah. Kapag ganito naman talaga surrendered," Poa told reporters at the Quezon City Hall of Justice. (Well, yeah. In these situations, it's really surrendered.) Quezon City (QC) Regional Trial Court Branch 98 on Friday issued the arrest warrant against Duterte over three counts of grave threats after finding probable cause to hold her for trial. She did not appear before the Quezon City court on Friday, the day that the arrest warrant was issued. Amid a police deployment to the site, the vice president was reluctant to enter the QC Hall of Justice upon her arrival on Saturday morning, repeatedly saying she feared for her safety. After much discussion with her lawyers, Duterte eventually entered the building. In early August, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed three counts of grave threats against the vice president over her remarks that she hired an individual to kill President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and former speaker Martin Romualdez, should an alleged plot against her succeed. Following this, Duterte filed a motion to quash on the ground of jurisdiction, arguing that she and other impeachable officers have limited procedural immunity while in office under the 1987 Constitution. The court held the oral arguments on the motion in August. In its order, the QC Regional Trial Court Branch 98 said it found probable cause to hold Duterte for trial. "Together with its supporting evidence, and after due consideration of the arguments raised by both parties in their oral arguments, the Court finds that there is probable cause to hold the accused for trial for the crimes charged in the Informations," it said. Bail was set at P120,000 per count. — VDV, GMA News