Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio posts bail following arrest warrant

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio posted bail at a Manila courthouse on Saturday, a day after an arrest warrant was issued over her alleged death threat against the country’s president.

Duterte-Carpio was charged last month with “grave threats” stemming from a late-night news briefing in which she claimed to have hired a hitman to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, his wife and a congressman cousin should she be cut down first.

She later said the comments had been misconstrued.

The alleged assassination threat also forms a crucial element of her ongoing Senate impeachment trial, where a guilty verdict would see her removed from office and permanently banned from politics.

“The vice-president voluntarily appeared before the court that issued the warrant, so there was no need for her to be arrested,” her lawyer Lawrence Lim said after Duterte-Carpio emerged from the regional courthouse holding a court order confirming she had posted a cash bond.

Before entering, Duterte-Carpio had told reporters she feared for her life.