Philippine VP Sara charged over Marcos assassination threat
Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio was hit with a criminal charge on Tuesday over an alleged death threat against the country’s president, a key part of the case against her at her ongoing Senate impeachment trial. The charge of “grave threats” was filed on Tuesday afternoon in a Quezon City courtroom, Department of Justice spokesman Polo Martinez said. It stems from a National Bureau…
On Tuesday, Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio was charged with a criminal offense for allegedly making a death threat against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife, and a former congressman cousin, according to prosecutors. The charge of "grave threats" was filed in a Quezon City courtroom by the Department of Justice (DOJ) spokesperson Polo Martinez.
This charge stems from a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) criminal complaint filed in February 2025, following a late-night news briefing where Duterte-Carpio claimed to have hired an assassin to eliminate the president, his wife, and her cousin if she were to cut her down first.
Duterte-Carpio's legal team argued that the criminal case should not be pursued while she is undergoing impeachment proceedings. Their defense lawyer, Paul Lawrence Lim, stated that a sitting impeachable officer cannot be prosecuted for an alleged offense that is also the subject of an impeachment case. When asked if the DOJ believed the case could be pursued alongside the impeachment trial, Martinez confirmed that it was now in the court's jurisdiction.
He stated that prosecutors had presented the case to the court, which had met a high threshold before moving forward with it.
Professor Dante Gatmaytan, a law professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law, said there were no legal barriers preventing the criminal case from proceeding independently of the impeachment trial. He added that while there could be future theories applied, the DOJ currently has the right to proceed with the criminal case.
Under Philippine law, a conviction on the charge of "grave threats" carries a potential jail term of between one to six months. Another complaint of "inciting to sedition" was dismissed from the original NBI complaint.
Sara Duterte-Carpio was impeached in May on charges of corruption and corruption. Day 14 of her Senate impeachment trial is underway, with her political career and 2028 presidential aspirations at stake. A guilty verdict would result in her removal from office and a permanent bar from elective politics.
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