Why was Sara Duterte allowed to post bail on a Saturday? No mugshot taken?

VEEP. Vice President Sara Duterte, along with legal counsels, arrives at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, following the issuance of an arrest warrant against her over a grave threats case, on September 5, 2026. Jire Carreon/Rappler The Vice President is facing three counts of grave threats case and posted bail on Saturday, September 5 Vice President Sara Duterte posted bail on September 5, 2026, after being indicted for grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., with bail set at P120,000 for each count. Bail can be posted on weekends due to the existence of night courts and specific judges assigned to process bail applications, as outlined by the Supreme Court and the Office of the Court Administrator. Duterte was allowed to surrender directly to the court without being arrested, which spared her from having a mugshot taken. She submitted her own photographs instead. This is AI-generated. Read the article for full context. Report any errors. Some people are wondering: Why was Vice President Sara Duterte able to post bail on a weekend? Was she given special treatment? The Vice President is facing three counts of grave threats over her alleged assassination threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and family during a 2024 midnight press conference. The Department of Justice indicted Duterte in August, in the middle of her impeachment trial. On September 4, Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 98 ordered Duterte’s arrest and set bail at P120,000 for each count. The Vice President and her lawyers did not appear before the court that day. Duterte posted bail a day later, September 5, a Saturday. Why was she allowed to do so? Saturday courts In principle, bail can be posted anytime, anywhere, and under any circumstances. There are courts assigned during night and on Saturdays to process bail. According to the Supreme Court, night courts are tasked “with handling urgent matters, including bail petitions arising from nighttime arrests, and ensuring the speedy disposition of criminal cases involving tourists.” Meanwhile, the SC Office of the Court Administrator’s Circular No. 30 series of 2023 reiterated that some courts are open to process bail during weekends. In the circular, then-court administrator and now Associate Justice Raul Villanueva said “no person incarcerated during the weekend when government offices and courts are closed shall not be made to suffer prolonged detention as a consequence thereof.” “There is nothing in the law or the rules that prevented respondent [Executive Judge] from acting on the bail application submitted to him on a weekend,” said the High Court in the Rodriguez v. Hon. Noel Jr. case, as reiterated in the OCA 2023 circular. According to sources familiar with court operations, one judge is assigned every Saturday — usually from 8 am to 1 pm — to process bail. That judge will sign the release order after the accused has posted bail. The Office of the Executive Judge releases the list of judges who will be assigned on a specific date. In Duterte’s case, the judge assigned on September 5 processed her bail and signed the release order. It’s not Branch 98 Presiding Judge Ma. Angelica de Ramos, who’s handling the grave threats case. Why no mugshot? Department of the Interior and Local Government chief Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla said they accorded Duterte all the respect “that her position deserves.” This is true because the police could have arrested the Vice President between Friday night and Saturday morning, but they did not. “We knew of her whereabouts the night before but we did not force the warrant of arrest,” Remulla told Rappler on Saturday. In other words, the police allowed Duterte to surrender on her own, to the court’s jurisdiction. This is important because there’s a distinction between an accused who surrendered and one who was arrested. Surrender is among the mitigating circumstances that may be used to reduce an accused’s sentence. Surrendering directly to the court may also spare the accused of having mugshots. The police take mugshots of the accused only if they were arrested or surrendered to the police. In Duterte’s case, she still underwent standard court booking procedures, like taking of fingerprints, but there was no mugshot because she went directly to the court. Her lawyer, Paul Lawrence Lim, said they submitted the Vice President’s photos to the court in lieu of mugshots. OCA Circular No. 204 series of 2022 allows this but requires the accused’s party to submit “four sets of recently taken black and white 2×2 photographs (front, left and right profiles)….on all copies of the corresponding bail bond to be issued or posted.” – Rappler.com How does this make you feel? Loading