[Rappler’s Best] Yes, Sara Duterte is not safe
While you were running weekend errands or simply making up for lost sleep on Saturday morning, September 5, the country’s Vice President showed up in a courthouse in Quezon City — with just the right amount of red on her lips, just enough volume in her hair, just enough glitter on her ears, just enough puff on her sleeves.
The grand entrance — with media, bystanders, and supporters as captive audience — followed a consistent storyline and catered to a constant base: Vice President Sara Duterte is persecuted and under siege, an uncontested truth among the keyboard warriors in the Duterteverse.
- If you missed the spectacle, you may watch it through this link. Jairo Bolledo recounts it in this piece. Don’t fret; Jairo’s video report provides context and lays out what comes after.
- To those wondering whether one can post bail on a Saturday, yes you can. There’s a weekend court assigned to each regional trial court for bail proceedings, according to Jairo.
- “I’m not safe,” Duterte said repeatedly before the cameras. This is like a meme version of her usual defense: that she made the remark about hiring an assassin to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former speaker Martin Romualdez because there was a supposed security threat against her.
- In truth, she has an enviable armor of physical security. The Vice President’s security group remains intact, though now less than the record-number, battalion-size force that she enjoyed in her early years in the post. The Philippine National Police still teems with Duterte loyalists. Civilian and military security personnel in the Davao Region are her extended security apparatus as well.
But, yes, she is not safe from the bullets of accusations against her that range from abusing power to misusing taxpayers’ money to fattening her bank accounts.
- The vice president is not immune from a court suit. Marites Dañguilan Vitug tackled this in 2015, at the height of the exposés against then-vice president Jejomar Binay. Constitutionalists have pointed out that it’s only the president who’s immune from suit while in office. Read more.
- The criminal charges Duterte is facing before a Quezon City regional trial court make her the first vice president to be charged in a regional trial court in recent history. Binay was charged in court, but in the anti-graft Sandiganbayan, over a graft case that was downgraded from plunder. He was acquitted in 2025.
- Former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was also charged in a lower court (in Pasay) under the Noynoy Aquino administration, but this was over an election fraud case. Arroyo was arrested in November 2011 and put under hospital detention until she was granted bail. Read more.
The case against Vice President Duterte in a Quezon City court is not only bailable but defensible in that she has the luxury of time and multi-level appeals to make this go away.
- The impeachment trial is another matter altogether; her threats against the Marcoses are in the fourth article of impeachment and the first to be presented by the prosecution last July.
- As the prosecution prepares to present the complaint about Duterte’s alleged unexplained wealth in the third week of September, the possibility of a plunder suit against her looms. All public officials previously charged with plunder were jailed immediately.
- A conviction by the Senate impeachment court disqualifies Duterte from public office. Granted she’s acquitted, will the 2028 presidential race be a walk in the park for her? She is the clear front-runner in surveys for the 2028 presidential elections, but data shows that four out of five presidential polls saw early survey leaders fall from grace. Check this data story.
But someone else is safe, for now at least, apparently so he could testify against top public officials in the flood control scandal, such as former speaker and presidential cousin Martin Romualdez — the “central figure” in the scandal.
- Former public works secretary Manuel Bonoan, under whose term massive ghost and graft-ridden corrupt flood control contracts were deployed, was released on September 3, following the Sandiganbayan’s swift dismissal of plunder and graft charges filed by the Ombudsman against him with the 5th Division. A separate graft case against him is still pending in the 2nd Division.
- It was only three months ago when Ombudsman Boying Remulla announced that his office had reached a deal with Bonoan for him to turn state witness to strengthen government’s cases against those involved in flood control corruption.
- In particular, the Ombudsman said it was eyeing Bonoan to pin down Romualdez in the plunder, money laundering, and graft cases being built against him.
- An appointee of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Bonoan is a province mate of the President in Ilocos Norte. When he was public works secretary, his department awarded P2.5 billion worth of projects to his daughter’s business partner. He was forced to quit in August 2025.
- Asked for updates at a budget hearing on September 3, Ombudsman Remulla said there are now 35 flood control-related cases pending in courts, 31 of which are with the Sandiganbayan.
Here are some of Rappler’s bests that you shouldn’t miss:
- Gelo Gonzales and Lance Ariel Bustos uncover a Philippine online forum of 430,000 members that has been posting and sharing intimate photos and videos of women since 2023 — without their consent. Gelo and Lance also show us the incentive structure for users in this forum.
- Iya Gozum reminds us of a tragic irony: that developing nations like Nepal and the Philippines bear the brunt of climate change impacts even though they contribute the least to greenhouse gas emissions.
- Jennifer Pading tells us how the Romualdez clan has kept its grip on Leyte’s politics for generations. Iya Gozum writes, When you see the Ynares name, you know you’re in Rizal. Keep track of our series on political dynasties here.
- Eirene Manatlao crunches grim tuberculosis numbers for us, with the Philippines ranking third globally among countries with the highest TB burden in 2024.
- Marilen Dañguilan notes that while chronic kidney disease is now a major health concern here, public financing is more generous after kidneys fail than before they do.
– Rappler.com
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