It’s now her turn

For the past several months, Vice President Sara Duterte went through bitterly fought congressional hearings on her alleged misuse of public funds. VP Sara’s worst nightmares came to pass since her bitter parting of ways from the UniTeam of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM). She quit the Marcos Cabinet in July 2023.

VP Sara has since then been under fire on questioned disbursements of P612 million in confidential intelligence funds (CIF) under the 2022 budget of the Office of Vice President (OVP). In addition, VP Sara was also being taken to account for another P125 million of CIF while she was concurrent Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd).

Feisty VP Sara fought back valiantly while being grilled by lawmakers during the quad committee public hearings on the CIF disbursements. In fact, her alleged misuse of CIF at the OVP and at DepEd were among the seven Articles of Impeachment filed against her before the 19th  Congress adjourned last Feb. 5. To date though, she has yet to submit her official rebuttal to counter all the impeachment charges against her.

 After several months of being demonized, opinion polls showed VP Sara’s trust and public approval ratings have steadily declined. But the ratings remained in double digits. She could only heave a sigh of relief when public sympathy shifted to her and father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, following his dramatic Interpol arrest and immediately being flown to the Netherlands last March 11. 

From that time on, the 80-year-old ex-president has been in medical detention at The Hague. He is currently fighting the crimes against humanity charged against him on 43 cases of alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) before the International Criminal Court (ICC). VP Sara echoed last week her own fears she, too, might soon be served with an ICC arrest order on the same EJK cases.

With her lawyers readying against such a prospect, VP Sara remains unperturbed on the impeachment cases currently on active file at the Senate secretariat docket. As scheduled by Senate President Francis Escudero, the senators will convene as an impeachment court when both chambers of the 19th Congress resume sessions on June 2. By which time, the new set of 12 senators shall have been declared winners in the mid-term elections. 

 With battle lines clearly drawn, VP Sara is on attack mode while attending campaign rallies of her political allies, especially her so-called “Duter-10” senatorial candidates in the mid-term elections. Her vitriolic digs, however, have so far spared PBBM’s 12-man senatorial candidates in the Alyansa ng Bagong Pilipinas. In fact, VP Sara endorsed and is campaigning for two Alyansa senatorial rivals of the PDP-Laban slate. These are PBBM’s elder sister, re-electionist Senator Imee Marcos, and Las Piñas City Rep. Camille Villar.

Sen. Imee has officially dissociated herself from the Alyansa and declared herself as an “independent” candidate. She had to bail out, fearing she might lose the huge voting bloc from solid Diehard Duterte Supporters (DDS) in the Visayas and Mindanao provinces. No less than PBBM himself deliberately dropped Sen. Imee’s name at the Alyansa campaign rallies. 

Last Friday, Sen. Imee formally charged before the ombudsman several Marcos Cabinet members and other government officials who cooperated in implementing the Interpol “diffusion notice” against Mr. Duterte despite affirming the withdrawal of the Philippines from the ICC taking effect in 2019.

 Sen. Imee further accused the administration of her brother of apparent tactics to divert the public’s attention from the Duterte arrest. In particular, she tagged the public hearing conducted last April 23 by the Senate committee on maritime and admiralty zones chaired by fellow re-electionist candidate Senator Francis “Tol” Tolentino. 

 As the principal author and sponsor of the landmark Philippine Maritime Zones Law under Republic Act (RA) 12064, Tolentino called for the public hearing, prompted by a Senate resolution that sought to look into the latest reported incidents involving suspected Chinese “spy” drones fished out from internal waters of the Philippines. 

 The public hearing of Tolentino’s committee also exposed the alleged maritime “spying” activities conducted by six Chinese nationals and a Filipino in Subic, Zambales who were arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) last March. 

 Taking a break again from the Alyansa campaign rally, Senator Tolentino will resume today his Senate hearing to focus on a Makati-based company identified as behind the “army of trolls” or “keyboard warriors” purportedly hired by certain Chinese embassy officials in Manila. Showing copy of the contract and check payment, Tolentino unmasked InfinitUs as the firm allegedly engaged in the proliferation of online “fake news” and dis-information campaign about our West Philippine Sea (WPS) dispute with China.

 Speaking at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday, Tolentino naturally took offense at Sen. Imee’s digs on his Senate probe. Tolentino swore he led the Senate investigation on his own initiative – not because he was ordered by PBBM or allegedly part of the Alyansa campaign strategy.

 “Let me clarify: what I did has nothing to do with the administration or the Alyansa slate. This was purely my endeavor,” Tolentino averred. He admitted anew he resigned earlier from Duterte’s PDP-Laban precisely over policy differences on the WPS dispute with China.  

Nonetheless, as a former Duterte Cabinet official, Senator Tolentino reiterated his call for the “humane treatment” of the former president at The Hague detention, including respect for the international human rights of the prisoner on the choice of food being served to him or her.

Coming into the mid-term of the Marcos administration, it would be safe for candidates like re-electionist senators to be on VP Sara side of the political fence in the coming May 12 national and local elections. For VP Sara’s tormentors in the 19th Congress, they have the misfortune of being her targets to frustrate their political aspirations. On target are those she accused of political mudslinging during the quad comm hearings. 

“I can also fight dirty,” VP Sara declared.

It’s now VP Sara’s turn, let her be. At least, until the impeachment trial starts.