Marcos Jr. uses the law to prune Sara Duterte from the 2028 race

By Sophie Naimi · Reporting from Paris · September 6, 2026

The theater of the absurd has a new stage in Quezon City.

# The Price of a Hitman’s Promise

On September 5, 2026, Vice President Sara Duterte paid 360,000 pesos—about $5,700—in bail to avoid a jail cell. The Quezon City court arrested her for "grave threats." NPR and Rappler reported that the charges follow a midnight press conference in November 2024. There, the 48-year-old Vice President told reporters she had ordered a hitman to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the First Lady, and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she died first.

This is not a criminal case; it is a purge. Duterte claims she "does not feel safe" and fears she might "die in my sleep." These are the pleas of a woman who discovered the "UniTeam" alliance of the previous general election was no partnership. It was a ceasefire between the Marcos and Duterte clans—two families who shared campaign posters and handshakes while treating the national treasury like a family trust and the state like a private estate.

The Court as a Political Tool

Prosecutors argue the rule of law applies to everyone. They say threatening to assassinate a head of state via a hired killer is a violent crime that demands punishment. In this view, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court and the Senate impeachment court are simply performing their constitutional duties to remove an official who abused her power.

In the Philippines, the incumbent uses the law as a scalpel to prune the opposition. The U.S. saw a similar pattern during the impeachment of Bill Clinton in the late nineties, where political rivals used legal proceedings to strip a high-ranking official of their influence. In both cases, the judiciary becomes a political arena where the balance of power, not the evidence, decides the verdict.

This tension peaked during the 2024 budget hearings, where fights over confidential funds masked a struggle for control. Now, the state reviews the 2016-2022 War on Drugs, auditing the blood-stained streets and police quotas to decide which killings were "too much" and which were useful. When the Marcoses and Dutertes shared power, the courts stayed quiet. Now that they vie for the 2028 presidency, the law speaks.

Will the Senate Ban Her?

Paul Lawrence Lim, Duterte’s lawyer, said the state cannot prosecute her for offenses tied to her impeachment. This legal maneuver masks a fight for survival. The real issue is not a six-month sentence—a brief stay in a cell—but that the Philippine state remains a playground for a few surnames.

The Senate will likely convict her of graft and grave threats. This is not because the evidence is overwhelming, but because a conviction bans her from the 2028 ballot. By removing her from office, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. clears the path for his own family to hold power longer. He ensures the dynasty's longevity by deleting his most dangerous rival from the electoral map.

This is the reorganization of spoils. The law now settles scores between two families who have spent decades treating the treasury as a piggy bank and the police as a private militia. Accountability is a mask for the winners; the only thing that changes is whose name appears on the warrant and who holds the keys to the Malacañang palace.

Marcos Jr. uses the law to prune Sara Duterte from the 2028 race

The Court as a Political Tool

Will the Senate Ban Her?

Sources