QC court postpones Sara Duterte's arraignment on grave threats

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court 98 on Friday postponed the arraignment of Vice President Sara Duterte on grave threat charges due to a motion filed by her camp.

Atty. Paul Lawrence Lim, Duterte's lawyer, said they asked for the deferment of the arraignment and the court agreed. He declined to disclose the nature of the motion due to its sensitivity and respect for the court.

"Hindi muna matutuloy yung arraignment, so suspended muna. So yun lang po ang masasabi ko," he told reporters in an ambush interview.

"Hindi ko masasabi po 'yung nature ng motion. Pero kabilang na doon sa mga hinihingi namin 'yung ipagpaliban muna or i-defer 'yung kanyang arraignment habang pinag-aaralan ng huwes 'yung motion. So pinagbigyan naman niya 'yung pag-defer," he added.

Duterte's camp on August 21 filed a motion for certiorari and prohibition against the informations filed before the Quezon City court, asking for an injunction on the cases and that they be rendered void.

On September 4, they filed a motion asking the Supreme Court to order the recall of the warrants.

On Thursday, they also filed with the SC an urgent motion to resolve her application for a temporary restraining order in the grave threats case filed against her

The Vice President was accompanied by her brother Rep. Paolo Duterte when she arrived at the QC Hall of Justice at 8:30 a.m. They briefly greeted their supporters before heading to the court.

Duterte left the QC Hall of Justice at 9:00 a.m.

The Department of Justice on August 11 filed three counts of grave threat charges against Duterte in connection with remarks she made in an online press conference in 2024.

During the press conference, Duterte said she had already talked to someone to kill President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and then House Speaker Martin Romualdez if anything happened to her. —AOL, GMA News