FAR from the snail-paced justice system that the Philippines is known for, it took less than a month for the Quezon City Regional Trial Court to issue an arrest warrant for a case involving a prominent individual.
In its order, Quezon City RTC Branch 98 directed government law enforcement agencies to implement the arrest of Vice President Sara Duterte, adding that the court found probable cause to hold her to trial over three counts of grave threats.
“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,” reads part of the court order that was issued Friday afternoon.
Duterte’s lawyer Paul Lawrence Lim said the vice president is willing to face the charges head on — “Regardless of the question on jurisdiction, she has no intention of evading the law and will continue to exercise all her legal remedies.”
The court set the bail at P120,000 per count. It was not certain though whether ot not the Vice President has posted bail.
Meanwhile, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla told reporters that the warrant has already been transmitted to Duterte’s lawyers.
“Their lawyers confirmed that they received the warrant and they intend to post bail ASAP,” Remulla said.
It was only last month that the DOJ filed three counts of grave threats against the vice president over her remarks that she hired an individual to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former speaker Martin Romualdez, should she die ahead of them.
