NATION

Court denies Sara’s plea to disqualify judge

Lisa Marie Apacible · Sep 15, 2026, 10:31 AM

Vice President Sara Duterte arrived at the Quezon City Hall of Justice with her counsel, following the issuance of warrant of arrest against her on Saturday 5 September 2026, for the three counts of grave threats case involving the first family and former speaker Martin Romualdez. — Analy Labor

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) has rejected Vice President Sara Duterte’s bid to have the judge handling her grave threats cases inhibit herself from the proceedings, ruling that her allegations of bias and partiality were unsupported by evidence.

In an order dated 14 September, RTC Branch 98 Presiding Judge Maria Angelica P. De Ramos denied Duterte’s motion for inhibition or voluntary recusal “for utter lack of merit.”

“Absent any clear and convincing evidence of actual bias, prejudgment, or an improper connection that reasonably calls the undersigned’s impartiality into question, the undersigned sees no cogent reason for her to inhibit or recuse herself from hearing these cases,” the order stated.

Duterte had sought the judge’s recusal after the court directed prosecutors to submit additional digital evidence in support of the probable cause determination in the three counts of grave threats filed against her.

Through her counsel, Duterte argued that the court effectively assisted the prosecution by allowing the submission of evidence that was not included in the original filing.

She claimed the prosecution’s failure to present the digital evidence earlier would have been fatal to the complaints.

The defense also argued that Duterte should have been given time to respond to the additional evidence, which it described as substantial and not merely routine.

The court likewise dismissed the claim that prosecutors were given undue advantage when they were allowed to submit additional evidence.

Meanwhile, her legal team confirmed receiving the court’s order and said the Vice President would pursue available legal remedies.

“We confirm receiving the RTC-Quezon City, Branch 98’s order denying our motion for inhibition of the Honorable Presiding Judge,” Atty. Paul Lawrence Lim said in a statement on Tuesday.

Lim said Duterte would continue complying with the court’s directive for both parties to observe the sub judice rule and avoid publicly discussing the merits of the pending cases.