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Interior Secretary Challenges Duterte to Prove Police Harassment Claims
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla on Monday challenged Vice President Sara Duterte and her camp to present evidence supporting allegations of police harassment during the service of a warrant for her arrest on grave threats charges.
Speaking at a press briefing in Camp Crame, Remulla said no SWAT team or armed personnel were involved in serving the warrant. He noted that the officers involved were unarmed women who were allowed into Duterte's residence and office without incident.
"So, any thoughts of harassment during the service are totally untrue," Remulla said. "We dare them to present any CCTV footage they have in their office or residence showing harassment during the service of the warrant."
The Quezon City Regional Trial Court had ordered Duterte's arrest on grave threats charges, after which she claimed her family had been harassed and that she had been under police surveillance.
Remulla had previously dismissed these claims, stating that police refrained from arresting Duterte despite knowing her whereabouts, out of courtesy to her position as vice president.
He explained that police presence outside her Davao residence is standard practice extended to very important persons, and denied that officers ever entered her home to harass her mother or children. According to Remulla, police maintain a nightly presence outside her home solely to provide deterrence against potential threats to her safety, describing this as standard operating procedure carried out daily.
The charges against Duterte originate from a November 2024 press conference, during which she reportedly stated she had arranged for an assassin to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez, a presidential cousin, in the event that she herself were killed.
Duterte posted bail of 360,000 pesos on Saturday.