Alleged “Bagman” of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte Appears Before the House Impeachment Proceedings
SARA DUTERTE – The Vice President admitted that she personally takes the claim of Ramil Madriaga that she allegedly needed help while studying law.
The House Committee on Justice recently held the second impeachment hearing of Vice Pres. Duterte. Two (2) impeachment raps were found sufficient in form, grounds, and substance by the panel.
After skipping the first impeachment proceedings, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s lawyer Michael Poa appeared before the House panel for the impeachment hearing yesterday, April 14.
According to Poa who is also the spokesperson of Duterte’s legal team and his former spokesman when she was the education secretary, he is allegedly under a “compulsory process” to attend the impeachment hearing. He stressed that his appearance at the House hearing “is without prejudice to the defenses of the Vice President”.
Several grounds were raised against Duterte in the impeachment complaints that were filed against him. Here are some of the accusations against the Vice President in the impeachment raps:
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in amassing and converting the amount over PHP 500 million confidential funds (CF) allocated to the Office of the Vice President from 2022 to 2023
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in amassing and converting the amount of not less than PHP 112.5 million of confidential funds allocated to the Department of Education (DepEd) for the year 2023
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust by corrupting and bribing officials of the DepEd
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in contracting to murder or assassinate the president, the first lady, and the former speaker of the House
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in amassing unexplained wealth and failing to disclose all her properties and interests in properties in her SALN
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in committing acts of political destabilization and the high crimes of sedition and insurrection
At the recent House impeachment hearing, Ramil Madriaga who claimed to be the alleged “bagman” of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte made accusations against the Vice President. He claimed that he supposedly personally disposed the P125-million confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President “in less than 24 hours”.
Madriaga also claimd that former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte allegedly used him as a dummy to open bank accounts during his tenure as president. He also claimed that Vice Pres. Sara Duterte allegedly needed help from someone to get through law school.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte reacted to the claims of Ramil Madriaga against her. Through a statement posted on her official social media page, the Vice President said that Madriaga allegedly “cannot even weave a believable lie”.
“I complete my studies on my own terms. I placed a higher premium on living a well-rounded life rather than pursuing academic excellence. I never asked any profession for special accommodation for my grades because the bare minimum was easy enough to meet,” the Vice President wrote.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte also stressed that she passed the BAR on her first attempt with a GWA of 80 which is “five points above the minimum”. According to her, Madriaga and his alleged cohorts in the House do not come close to her capacity to achieve results “with very little efforts”.
Recently, based on a report on GMA News, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla claimed that Ramil Madriaga has allegedly named the alleged hitmen of Vice Pres. Duterte. According to Remulla, he thinks that it might come out in the next testimonies of Duterte’s alleged bagman.
Amid the early election talks, a survey showed that the 2028 presidential race tightened between Vice Pres. Sara Duterte and former Vice President and now Naga Mayor Leni Robredo.
