No records

After the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed they did not have any birth, marriage, or death records of "Mary Grace Piattos" and "Kokoy Villamin", lawmakers most likely became suspicious. They then had more than 600 names that allegedly received funds via receipts from Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIF) of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and DepEd checked by the PSA. These include receipts issued when Vice President Sara Duterte headed the DepEd.

According to the PSA, they have no record of the birth, marriage, or death of more than 400 names from the list of recipients of funds from the OVP and DepEd while 200 recipients have duplicate names. Anyone would be surprised or raise an eyebrow at this revelation. But instead of the vice president or her staff at the OVP and DepEd explaining properly, if everything is fine according to them, why did Sara Duterte resort to the statements and antics we all know by now? These include supposed death threats to her, insults to President Bongbong Marcos Jr., and even threats to him and his family.

She probably didn't think that her huge CIF spending would be flagged by the Commission on Audit and investigated by Congress. They probably did not think the names of more than 400 recipients of CIF would be exposed as non-existent with 200 names having duplicates. Congress is about to finish the investigation. Laws will be proposed so that something similar cannot happen again. They should look into why the DeEd has CIF in the first place.

Vice President Sara Duterte is already facing two impeachment complaints and maybe more. The results of the congressional investigation into the questionable spending of the OVP and DepEd CIF will most likely be included in the reasons for impeachment. But is there still time for them to move forward? Duterte has long been complaining people want her removed through impeachment because she is a strong candidate for the presidency in 2028. If the impeachment against her is successful, she will no longer be able to run for any position in the government. So, if she wants to run in 2028, she should explain the anomalies raised by Congress. I should mention that her staff at the OVP and DepEd are complicit if they refuse to explain the use of CIF. Even if these are CIF, they are still the people's money and there needs to be accountability for how they were used.