Senate, surrender Bato, try VP Sara D. forthwith

Forthwith, the Senate under its Bible-quoting new president, the lanky Alan Peter Cayetano, should do two things:

1) Hand over Senator Ronald “Bato” M. dela Rosa to the International Criminal Court for him to face trial for the crimes against humanity of murder and attempted murder and 2) try Vice President Sara Z. Duterte for culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes and betrayal of public trust.

As a criminal suspect before the ICC, Bato is not entitled to so-called protective custody of the Senate. The ICC alleges that “Dela Rosa was involved in a common plan that lasted from Nov. 1, 2011 to March 16, 2019, to kill alleged criminals in the Philippines, including those perceived or alleged to be associated with drug use, sale or production.” From July 3, 2016 to end-April 2018, Bato is linked to the murder of at least 32 victims.

Under Article 27 of the Rome Statute, ICC’s crime suspects are not entitled to “local or national immunities.” A learned person (when not acting like a clown or a buffoon, thanks to two lady NBI agents whom he pushed hard with the force of a gale to escape their collar Monday afternoon, May 11), Bato knows ICC rules.

There is no such thing as protective custody of the Senate. Otherwise, all felons will come knocking at the doors of senators to seek protective custody. The Senate cannot harbor more criminals than it already does (at least four senators are suspected plunderers, remember?). The Senate should complete its sprawling P30-billion building complex in Makati if it wants to harbor criminals of all types. By then, it should seek five-star rating from DOT – for offering the best hotel amenities stolen or drug money can buy.

On May 11, 2026, with 257 congressmen voting Yes (82 percent of total House membership) and 25 voting No, Congress impeached Sara Duterte for the second time in two years.

The House says Sara demonstrates conduct that “falls below the standards and norms required of public officers and reflects a pattern of behavior inconsistent with public accountability, integrity and fidelity to public trust, particularly from one occupying the second highest office in the land. Her actions exhibit her true character – a public officer who defies, and has the proclivity to continue defying, established rules and norms of checks and balances, accountability and rule of law, including the basic respect for our democratic institutions.

“These acts, taken together, establish probable cause that Respondent Vice President Duterte committed culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes and betrayal of public trust, and demonstrates her unfitness to continue in public office, for which she should be bound over for trial before the Senate sitting as an impeachment court,” the House Articles of Impeachment say.

Per the impeachment articles:

• Sara plundered or malversed P612.5 million – P500-million confidential funds of the OVP in 2022 and 2023 and P112.5-million confidential funds of DepEd in 2023. Money (P125 million) received on Dec. 20, 2022 disappeared like magic, in just one day. It was distributed by whistleblower bodyguard and bank dummy Ramil Madriaga to just three recipients, in just 18 hours, and not 11 days as Sara claimed.

DepEd confidential funds of Dec. 8, 2024 were shown received by 677 people, 398 of whom did not exist. OVP money was received by 1,922 persons; 1,287 of them did not exist, including Mary Grace Piattos, Milky Secuya and Kokoy Villamin.

P375 million of confidential funds liquidated for the first three quarters of 2023 were disallowed by the COA, meaning Sara should return the money.

• Unexplained wealth. Sara had bank deposits “manifestly out of proportion to what she actually declared in her statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs).”

“Duterte’s actions of unlawfully acquiring property, amassing unexplained wealth and failing to disclose her true assets and net worth no doubt constitute a betrayal of public trust, a culpable violation of the Constitution and high crimes.”

From 2006 to 2025, reporting on the joint accounts of Sara and her husband Manases Carpio, the AMLC monitored 630 covered transactions (CTRs), those when amounts reach P500,000, and 33 suspicious transactions (STrs) involving a total of P6.771 billion: P4.425 billion were inflows; P1.554 billion were outflows. Another P791 million could not be determined as either inflow or outflow.

“In her 2024 SALN, Respondent Vice President Duterte supposedly only had P88,512,370.22 as her declared net worth. This led to the question, where did all the money go?”

?Conclusion: Sara is a multi-billionaire. Not bad for someone whose declared income as VP is not more than P400,000 per month and who, per bagman Madriaga, “was not particularly good in school, often struggling with her academics and habitually rude and violent to other students. Hence, Atty. Ryan used his influence in SSC-Law [San Sebastian College-Recoletos College of Law] to ensure that Sara received passing grades despite her poor academic performance.”

• Under the Constitution, the vice president cannot engage in business while in office.

SEC records reveal she is an incorporator of Metro City Chow Foods Corporation and a director and minority stockholder thereof for the years 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, having 20 percent ownership of the company (500 shares).

• NBI chief Melvin Matibag says Sara is guilty of sedition. Early morning of Nov. 23, 2024, during a media briefing, Respondent Vice President Duterte openly claimed that she had spoken to an assassin and instructed him to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former Speaker of the House of Representatives. “No joke. No joke.”

Meanwhile, a very recent OCTA Research survey shows Leni Robredo and Sen. Raffy Tulfo will be voted by 44 percent, ahead of the 40 percent received by Vice President Sara Duterte and Sen. Imee Marcos in hypothetical presidential and vice presidential tandems in the 2028 elections.

In 2028, Sara is a dead brand. Especially, if the Senate conducts her trial and convicts her.

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