by Diego Morra
The Filipino people should consider the filing of plunder charges against Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio and 14 of her underlings as a significant step in seeking justice and restitution, with the allegations of squandermania lodged against so serious as to warrant her detention since the criminal charges against her are not bailable. The charges leveled against her do not include her obsession with dromomania for her bulakbol management as vice president and as secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd.) Taylor Swift concerts are more important than the lives of typhoon victims.
The Dec. 12, 2025 filing before the Office of the Ombudsman came in the heels of the sustained effort of the Makabayan Coalition to file another impeachment complaint against Sara, also known as Duterte Jr., for her squandermania, the deliberate waste of taxpayer money for fictitious informers, the distribution of cash to military officers who were not qualified as disbursing officers, the bogus payment of millions for “youth summits” which turned out to have been subsidized by the Philippine Army (PA) and local government units (LGUs), the purchase or lease of 13 satellite offices and three extension offices and the score of millions spent for office equipment, burial assistance and educational support for a huge number of “scholars.”
Central to the impeachment case is the disbursement of the P125-million in confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) that was merely advanced to Sara and was taken out of the Contingent Fund (CF) of Malacanang in 2022. The Palace confirmed the transfer of money but added that Sara is accountable for it since it came from the CF of the Marcos Jr. administration. In short, she has to account for every single centavo of the P125-million. There was no CIF for Sara from July 1, 2022 to December 31, 2023 since she was still using the budget of former Vice President Leni Robredo, who had zero CIF for six years. In short, she was spending money for activities barred by the 2022 budget. Even if she produced thousands of Mary Grace Piattos signatures, the payments would still be illegal.
Sara’s hatred for the Makabayan Coalition is visceral as the bloc of progressive lawmakers did the yeoman’s job of uncovering the documents related to the fiscal impunity of Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio in 2022 and 2023 in both the OVP and the DepEd, which were germane to the congressional investigation into Duterte Jr.’s financial shenanigans. It is the job of lawmakers to exercise due diligence in examining financial records to make sure that the money isn’t pocketed. It is not the job of legislators to earn commissions from public infrastructure projects. Sara, feeling entitled to her post, accused the Makabayan lawmakers of plotting against her to scupper her march to Malacanang in collusion with Marcos Jr. At the DepEd, Duterte Jr. still has to account for how she spent the P500-million CIF as well as explain the P2-billion expenses disallowed by the Commission on Audit (COA.)
Surely, Sara will have to tread a tortuous path with little wiggle room to escape from the large net that threatens to ensnare her and her 15 cohorts. The impeachment complaint will add more fire that is currently burning her. Aside from this potential impeachment case, Sara will have to respond to the charges leveled at her by a former ally now being kept in jail for kidnapping, a case that Ramil Madriaga claims was hatched by former Rodrigo Duterte spokesman and lawyer Harry Roque, who represented some POGO companies operating in Pampanga. Madriaga accuses Sara and her hatchet men of getting billions from POGO bosses and drug kingpins to finance her vice-presidential campaign in 2022. In a 58-page submission, the complainants accused Sara and her staff of bribery, malversation and graft. They alleged that Duterte’s staffs in the OVP and DepEd engaged in a “coordinated, deliberate system to divert, mishandle and conceal confidential funds” of the two offices. Sara quit from DepEd in July 2024 following her break with Marcos Jr.
The others charged were: Zuleika T. Lopez, chief of staff (OVP); Lemuel G. Ortonio, assistant chief of staff (OVP); Rosalynne L. Sanchez, director for administrative and financial services (OVP); Julieta L. Villadelrey, chief accountant (OVP); Gina F. Acosta, special disbursing officer (OVP); Col. Raymund Dante P. Lachica, former commander of the defunct Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG); Michael Wesley T. Poa, former education undersecretary and chief of staff of the Office of the Secretary, and head of procuring entity’ Sunshine Charry A. Fajarda, former director for strategic management office and former assistant secretary (DepEd); Annalyn M. Sevilla, former undersecretary for Finance Service, Project Management Service, Education Program Management Service, Government Assistance and Subsidies Office (DepEd); Gloria Mercado, former head of procurement entity and undersecretary for Human Resources and Regional Development (DepEd); Ma. Rhunna L. Catalan, former chief accountant (DepEd); Edward D. Fajarda, former special disbursing officer (DepEd); retired Maj. Gen. Nolasco A. Mempin, former undersecretary for administration (DepEd), and; Lt. Col. Dennis Nolasco, former VPSPG officer.
The complainants said Duterte Jr. received P500 million in confidential funds for the OVP and P112.5 million for DepEd from 2022 to 2023. She and her co-conspirators had “maliciously and feloniously conspired to amass, accumulate and acquire ill-gotten wealth” amounting to more than P50 million, the threshold for the crime of plunder. They claimed in both OVP and DepEd, Duterte Jr. employed “identical, systematic schemes to circumvent established laws and procedures” with regard to the spending of the confidential funds. Duterte orchestrated the scheme for the OVP allegedly through Acosta, Villadelrey, Ortonio, Sanchez and Lachica. For DepEd, it was through Sunshine and Edward Fajarda, Catalan, Sevilla, Mercado, Mempin and Nolasco. The eight complainants were: Ramon Magsaysay awardee Fr. Flaviano Villanueva; activist priest Fr. Roberto Reyes; former Peace Process Adviser Teresita Quintos-Deles; UP professor Sylvia Estrada Claudio; economist and former Finance Undersecretary Cielo Magno; Christopher Cabahug, and; youth leaders Matthew Christian Silverio and John Lloyd Crisostomo.
With the filing of the plunder charges before the Ombudsman, the submission of an affidavit alleging that Sara’s vice presidential campaign was funded by POGOs and drug kingpins, the preparation of another impeachment complaint against Sara by the Makabayan Coalition and scores of other organizations, the people may well be advised to be ever-vigilant, separate the chaff from the grain and participate in various forms of action to the keep the fight against the fiscal impunity of Duterte Jr. corruption and graft alive and raging. Knowing the Byzantine workings of the justice system and the rapacity of the Duterte troll army in spreading disinformation and outright lies, the people must be reminded of what Oliver Cromwell said: “Trust in God and keep your powder dry.”
