Despite posting bail, Jonvic still itching to arrest Duterte?
Why discuss arresting the Vice President when she has already posted bail and remains under the jurisdiction of the QC court?
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Why discuss arresting the Vice President when she has already posted bail and remains under the jurisdiction of the QC court?
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla on Tuesday said the authorities will arrest Vice President Sara Duterte if ordered to do so by the court, despite her having posted bail in the three grave threats cases pending before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.
“We will comply with the order of the court,” Remulla told DAILY TRIBUNE after he briefed reporters at Camp Crame on the government’s efforts to bring back former Congressman Zaldy Co who is accused of serving as a conduit for alleged flood control kickbacks.
Duterte posted P360,000 bail on 5 September, or P120,000 for each of the three counts. The QC court subsequently lifted the arrest warrant and tentatively scheduled her arraignment for 9 October.
The cases stemmed from Duterte’s remarks of November 2024 where she said she had instructed someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and then House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she herself were killed.
The same allegations make up Article IV of the impeachment complaint against Duterte, prompting questions from her lawyers about the need for a separate criminal prosecution.
Parallels
The parallel cases raise another question: Why discuss arresting the Vice President when she has already posted bail and remains under the jurisdiction of the QC court?
Meanwhile, the QC court rejected the Vice President’s motion seeking the inhibition of Presiding Judge Maria Angelica P. de Ramos for alleged bias. The court denied the motion “for utter lack of merit.”
De Ramos said there was no “clear and convincing evidence of actual bias, prejudgment, or an improper connection” that would call her impartiality into question.
VP Duterte sought the judge’s inhibition after the court allowed prosecutors to submit additional digital evidence supporting probable cause.
Her lawyers argued that the move gave the prosecution an undue advantage and that the evidence should have been submitted with the original complaints.
‘Bigger fish’
Meanwhile, Remulla said he will travel to France to pursue efforts to block Co’s asylum application and seek an Interpol red notice against him.
Co is wanted in connection with alleged flood control project kickbacks, which he claimed he delivered to the residences of now detained former Speaker Martin Romualdez and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself.
On Monday, ACT Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio described Marcos as the “bigger fish” in the so-called Floodgate scandal.
