by Diego Morra
When the justice panel of the House of Representatives voted 53-0 to declare probable cause exists to subject Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio to impeachment trial before the Senate, it becomes necessary for her camp to use everything in their arsenal to prevent the plenary from submitting the case to the Upper Chamber for trial.
One option, which has been employed as soon as the impeachment complaints were filed, was to use the officials of the highest bodies of an influential religious group to exert pressure on individual Congress members to vote against the impeachment trial. The quid pro quo is that the cult-like organization would support him or her in 2028 once he or she votes to junk the impeachment trial. Promises of support for local candidates in the 2025 in exchange for backing a senatorial candidate effectively got one of their members in the Senate despite his meager accomplishment at the Lower House.
However, there is no guarantee that the group would deliver, as in fact it had not delivered the votes to a Metro Manila mayor in all of his electoral contests. This mayor, now deceased, always roared with laughter as he never relied on the religious group at all. True enough, he confirmed, he was never supported by the bloc-voting group in his entire life. Moreover, members of the Lower House should simply shrug off the threat since simple surveys in their districts would show that this religious group seldom has its members as the majority voting bloc in such districts. With this math, they might as well work on members of other churches to secure their electoral victories.
There should be no dilemma at all for Congress members on the issue of Sara’s impeachment. The justice panel conducted several sessions deliberating on the allegations raised in the impeachment complaints and adopted the previous findings of the investigative committees that looked into the wastage of confidential funds (CF) of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) as well as the testimonies of those who were surprisingly given cash by Sara for undisclosed, and indefensible, reasons. Despite the clowning glory of some lawmakers, including those who were “saling-pusa” in the justice panel, not a single committee member voted for Sara.
Worse than the 53-0 vote on probable cause, the panel also voted 55-0 to send the committee report for debate at the plenary. This goes to show that despite a feverish attempt by a group that forcefully pushes herd mentality at the polling precincts, they are losing their purportedly outsized political influence. Moreover, those threats were more bark than bite as Ramil Madriaga refused to be cowed by cult zealots and their not-so-secret paramilitary arm. He is not an ex-INC member for nothing. The impeachment battle at the Lower House has been irretrievably lost by the Duterte camp, all because it did not recognize the authority of the chamber to start the ball rolling. Even as Sara initially won her bid to delay the impeachment through the Leonen ponencia that tossed the first impeachment against Sara last year, this time around the Supreme Court (SC) may not rescue her.
Insulting Congress members since 2024 certainly didn’t work wonders for Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio and her husband, who mistakenly sued several government agencies to prevent the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) from disclosing more figures from the Duterte and Mans Carpio accounts. By doing so, Carpio practically admitted the existence of those accounts, which he now denies. Sara and Mans are apparently confused about the state of their finances and the kind of legal theory they are advancing. Already, the Duterte disinformation network is churning out canard after canard against Senate President Tito Sotto and Sen. Panfilo Lacson, along with reports about scams supposedly masterminded by Madriaga. All these are meant to deflect, divert and dilute the impact of the impeachment trial.
The impeachment complaints produced the paper trail, the AMLC confirmed the bank accounts exposed by former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV but now Sara denies everything, including those she admitted before, but not during the clarificatory hearings. The findings of the quad committee have also been adopted by Congress, along with the testimony of Atty. Michael Poa who said he was receiving amounts monthly from Sara and didn’t know what the money was for. But now, he claims that the money was “reimbursements,” a strange theory no one buys. Social media claims have no probative value but Sara and her handlers, including the obese ones, believe in Goebbels doctrine that bombarding the people with lies for two months will make those lies true. Yet, mere denials cannot fire reality, as former US President Bill Clinton said, or impeach the truth.
Purportedly, Sara threw a laptop at one of her lawyers, ostensibly over strange talk about billions of pesos being parked in the “others” category of her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs), which was as bad as the other excuse about cash just “passing through” the accounts. Elementary accounting principles have destroyed such chicanery. However, a younger Dutertes supposedly justified ownership of such a huge stash of cash, describing it as “small.” His theory? You need money to be a politician., and a politician is mandated to help his constituents. Kaya kailangan ang pera na higit pa sa P10-bilyon. With that kind of thinking, honesty, sincerity, credibility and selfless service are not required in politics. Can a political dynasty amass such wealth without punishing people and businesses? Like owning convenience stores, doughnut shops, bus companies, fishing firms and even mining for gold?#
