by Diego Morra
Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio should face all the allegations against her squarely inasmuch as they are all documented, confirmed by the Commission on Audit (COA) and corroborated by the testimonies of officials from the Department of Education (DepEd), the Office of the Vice President (OVP) itself and the Philippine Army (PA), as well hundreds of acknowledgment receipts for millions of pesos for thousands of informers.
With COA findings that cannot be assailed, Sara’s goose is cooked and no matter how her dogs wail, they could hardly deflect, canalize or dismiss the mountains of evidence generated against her since 2022, when she strutted like a peacock in Manila to claim her piece of the political throne. Even after her own father Rodrigo tagged her as a “drama queen,” Sara has failed to essay the role of a vice president, her performance a classic vargle, played truant on the job, crisscrossed the country to maximize political brownie points and performed poorly at the DepEd and quarreled with teaching materials on the walls of classrooms. Sara was a bad choice for DepEd secretary and a worse choice for vice president. Imagine what she could have done as defense secretary with her pro-China posturing.
In truth, Sara has not produced a scintilla of evidence to debunk the allegations against her, and her mere denials have absolutely no probative value. Now that the noose is tightening around her neck, she is propagating the lie that she should be president since she is “obedient,” “caring” and “compassionate,” traits that cannot overcome her contempt for ordinary folk. Thus far, she is being true to her politics, which shuns sincerity, honesty and credibility, all of which are needed in exercising power. We are not dealing with a Machiavelli here, or a Sun Tzu disciple, and we are stuck with someone who cannot explain her budget, defend her proposed allocations, let alone spend the people‘s money prudently and judiciously.
The figures will haunt her. Recently, Sara suddenly remembered that she had spent her confidential and intelligence fund (CIF) to “protect” and “defend” millions of pupils from “recruitment” by the New People’s Army (NPA) when the Geneva conventions and outstanding laws of war prohibit the recruitment of minors as combatants. Technically, DepEd and Sara have nothing to do with colleges and universities, which are under the ambit of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and spending millions of pesos to protect pre-school toddlers and adolescents from imagined guerrilla cadres do not pass the smell test. The Mary Grace Piattoses and legions of other informers may have surnames akin to that of the Duterte Holy Family.
Sara’s hanky-panky antedated the SONA of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. where he revealed the depredations of contractors and the DPWH in hundreds of flood control projects. For this alone, the rule should be “first come, first charged.” No hissy fits about “harassment,” “political persecution” and a conspiracy to prevent her becoming president in 2028, a la “Iginuhit ng Tadhana. What Sara should confront are not the “weaponization” of the impeachment process and the filing of plunder charges but the truthfulness of the troves of information that have been analyzed, assessed and proven true. They comprise tons of reams of legal-size paper that Sara and her lawyers can parse.
The receipts are beyond reproach, and this makes Sara’s job of wiggling out of the mess much harder. Her charge that the Makabayan Coalition is working hand-in-glove with Malacanang holds no water, a tall tale dismissed by both parties. What holds water is that Sara has no immunity from suit, she is not entitled to such vague concept as “exemption from litigation.” Worse, there are no buyers for her theory that lawmakers are jukeboxes that belt out tunes when coins are inserted. Is this a reprise of the yarn about a boy who cried wolf?
Briefly, the allegations against Sara and her cohorts are no laughing matter. There is the ₱12.3-billion in misused DepEd funds that under the law, they should return the money that had been earmarked for textbooks, classrooms and pay for teachers. Sara has transformed DepEd into a black hole in which light cannot escape. There is the anomalous₱5.6-billion feeding program hobbled by delayed deliveries or non-deliveries, the missing nutribuns and milk, expired or moldy food and food riddled with pests and thus unfit for consumption.
Sara also left DepEd with ₱12-billion in COA disallowances, suspensions and charges. Of the ₱500-million in CIF she had enjoyed, COA flagged ₱237-million. Her travel expenses also skyrocketed by 693% from ₱1.4-million to ₱11.1-million in just a year, proof positive of her dromomania or wanderlust when classrooms were flooded, teachers were begging for educational supplies and only a few classrooms were built. She is now weeping but not yet ready to cry uncle. She is tagging her accusers as hindering her inexorable march to Malacanang. Who told her that she has a franchise on the presidency? Sara and the Duterte political dynasty are getting their gaba after several crazy decades.
