Sara Duterte's lawyers arrive at QC Hall of Justice amid grave threat charges

Lawyers of Vice President Sara Duterte on Saturday morning arrived at the Quezon City Hall of Justice, a day after a court issued a warrant for her arrest on grave threat charges. Video posted on social media by Pamela Adriano of Super Radyo dzBB showed Duterte counsels Michael Poa and Paul Lawrence Lim alighting from a vehicle and entering the Hall of Justice. They did not respond to journalists' queries if the vice president would post bail today. Duterte had failed to appear before the Quezon City court on Friday following the issuance of an arrest warrant against her. QC Regional Trial Court Branch 98 issued the arrest warrant over three counts of grave threats against Duterte after finding probable cause to hold her for trial. Additional police forces were deployed at the Hall of Justice on Friday, with cops bringing inside the building a backdrop used for taking mugshots. Policemen were deployed to the area on Saturday morning as well. In early August, the 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 succeeds. 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