By Benjamin Pulta

NO EFFECT. Vice President Sara Duterte announces her intention to run for president in 2028 on Wednesday (Feb. 18, 2026). The Department of Justice on Friday (Feb. 20) said the announcement will not affect the inciting to sedition and grave threats complaints filed against her following her remarks against President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and several others in 2024. (PNA photo by Joan Bondoc)

MANILA – The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday said the complaints filed against Vice President Sara Duterte have been resolved and are now under review.

The complaints were in connection with Duterte’s remarks about allegedly hiring an assassin to kill President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and others in the event of her death.

“That’s under review meaning there is already resolution but it is pending review by the (prosecution) division head,” DOJ spokesperson Polo Martinez said in a press briefing.

He added Duterte’s recent announcement that she will seek the presidency in 2028 “will not affect the assessment by the prosecutors of the pending case against her.”

Martinez attributed the delay in the disposition to the “complexity” of the case involved.

Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, is facing inciting to sedition and grave threats complaints following her online press briefing in 2024 where she said she had instructed an unnamed person to kill Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and former Speaker Martin Romualdez if an alleged plot against her succeeds.

Duterte has said her statements were taken out of context. (PNA)