Subpoena to attend a preliminary hearing for an estafa case

Hello, my friend received a subpoena yesterday to attend a preliminary hearing for an estafa case filed against her this wednesday. The case is about real estate property sold by my friend way back in 2001. However, proceeds of the funds were not distributed to her siblings who co-owns the property hence this case was filed. The following are my concerns:

1. Does she need a lawyer to represent her in this preliminary hearing? It was such short notice and she doesn't know if they can get someone to represent her given the fact that the hearing is set for tomorrow.

2. What happens in a preliminary hearing?

3. If they find merits to the case filed against my friend, will she be issued a warrant of arrest and be arrested on the spot?

4. Is Estafa bailable? The property sold was for the amount of P1.0M and she doesn't know how much the rest of the family wants.

5. If they don't have the funds to settle the amount, what is the worst case scenario? Will she be forever put in jail until she pays up?

Thank you and I hope to hear from you soon.

her sisters filed the case? are they still living together?

she should go to the hearing and just ask for more time to look for a lawyer and prepare her counter affidavit. ask that the second hearing be canceled and reset it to 2-3 weeks from now.

the fiscal will probably ask them to work out a settlement, but she still should prepare her counter affidavit.

the complaint has to be resolved by the prosecutor and filed in court before a warrant of arrest issued.

if she can afford a lawyer, she should get one.

her sisters filed the case? Brothers and sister.
are they still living together? No each one of them have their own families and others live outside the country as well
My sister attended the preliminary hearing but was postponed because the complainant or their representative did not show up. However, the fiscal did not want to cancel the next hearing set up for April 6 to give us more time for the counter affidavit even though we requested for it to be rescheduled at least 2 weeks after that.
Thank you for responding.

i wouldn't rely on getting another postponement. i've experienced being denied and the counter not considered. make sure to be prepared with a counter affidavit.