Sara Duterte's arraignment on grave threats case postponed anew —lawyer

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court 98 on Friday postponed anew the arraignment of Vice President Sara Duterte on grave threat charges.

"Minabuti nga ng judge na huwag munang ituloy ang arraignment today," Duterte's legal counsel Atty. Paul Lawrence Lim said in an ambush interview.

This would be the second postponement of the arraigment which was originally scheduled on September 11.

Duterte's lawyer declined to disclose the new schedule as he wanted the information to come from the court or the prosecution.

Lim said the presiding judge made the decision to study Duterte's pending motion for partial reconsideration ad cautelam before the RTC as well as a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court.

He said that the motion for partial reconsideration seeks to convince the presiding judge to reverse the portion of an earlier order denying the defense's motion for the judge's inhibition from the case.

During the previous hearing, the judge denied the motion for inhibition but granted the defense's request to defer the arraignment, according to Lim.

Duterte’s camp also had asked the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) in connection with the case.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) 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.

On September 4, Branch 98 of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court issued a warrant of arrest for Duterte over three counts of grave threats.

She posted bail on September 5.

Emerging from the Quezon City Hall of Justice, Duterte greeted her supporters and thanked them. She also thanked her lawyers for doing their job. —AOL, GMA News