by Diego Morra
Ramil Madriaga is proving to be the albatross around Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio’s shrinking neck. In his affidavit that he read before the House justice committee, he claimed that the P125-million that Sara wasted in 11 days in 2022 actually evaporated on Dec. 20, 2022. This means that the money was processed by Madriaga and dispatched the funds in San Pablo City, Laguna, Nightstrip and the Office of the Ombudsman.
This disclosure thus shatters the oft-repeated claim of Sara that the disbursements were “aboveboard” and passed the strict evaluation by the Commission on Audit (COA) on the disbursements of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF.) Sara justified the quick payments as necessary given that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) do not want the money to be returned to the National Treasury by the final working day of 2022. With Madriaga alleging that he was the delivery man for the loot, the acknowledgment receipts (ARs) “produced” by the OVP are fabrications meant to deceive COA.
What is worse is that Madriaga signed a bank waiver right before the House justice panel and lawmakers will now have access to all his bank accounts, which could be a Pandora’s box to Sara inasmuch as all transactions were coursed through such accounts. Madriaga already provided copies of Land Bank manager’s checks in his name to the justice panel, leaving Sara’s lawyers flummoxed. There is a paper trail to prove that Madriaga was trusted by the Duterte dynasty to handle fraudulent transactions, from alleged payoffs to former Ombudsman Samuel Martires, delivery of hard cash to a Quezon City comedy bar received by Sara’s lawyer Reynold Munsayac and coordination with Col. Dennis Nolasco about delivering cash to allies as a way of “giving back.”
In the morning of December 20, 2022, Madriaga said Sara called him and told him to coordinate with Col. Nolasco in delivering money to San Pablo, Laguna, Nightstrip and the Office of the Ombudsman. “Bawi tayo sa kanila,” Sara added. Four bags were prepared at the Department of Education (DepEd) office for delivery, each one containing between P30 million and P35 million. One was delivered to San Pablo, another to Nommu Basho in Tomas Morato, Quezon City and two ended up at the Ombudsman parking lot. Madriaga claimed that Martires received two bags. He admitted to delivered cash to Martires and a certain Atty. Ryan previously upon the instruction of former President Rodrigo Duterte, with money placed on the trunks of designated cars.
Madriaga’s disclosures give the lie to Sara’s claim that he does not know Madriaga, with photos and videos showing her giving birthday wishes for the latter, felicitating him for leading a parallel political group for her vice-presidential campaign and her visiting him at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) district jail at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan City. Madriaga’s counsel claimed that Sara’s camp offered his client a huge sum of money to keep mum. When he refused, death threats bombarded his cellular phone and a plot to kill him in jail was supposedly squashed. Madriaga was alco charged with perjury by Sara, insisting that his previous statements were false and meant to sully her reputation and sabotage her march to the presidency.
Moreover, the disclosures National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) handwriting expert Carolyn Moldez-Pitoy destroyed Sara’s claim that real informants feasted on the intelligence she had squandered on Dec. 20, 2026. Pitoy said that the ARs of “Sally Rendon” and “Sheila Dado” were accomplished by only one person based on the form of elements, alignment movement and direction of strokes and the manner of execution of the signatures and the dates. The same holds true for the Ars of “Analiza Zino” and “Ken Nazo,” “Claribelita Tamayo” and “Jayson Reignold Ngo,” and “Angel Marie Abrigo” and “Anthony Santos.” Indeed, they were ghost “beneficiaries” as far as Madriaga is concerned. Only four recipients took the money.
In response to Madriaga’s testimony, Sara’s camp charged that Madriaga was lying through his teeth, which is incredible given the cherished quotation from Sara that honesty, credibility and sincerity are not needed in politics. Reminds us of Winston Churchill’s quote about Labor politician Stafford Cripps: “He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.” Just replace the “he” with a “she” and it fits Sara to a T. Sara may sue Madriaga in heaven but it would not make a dent on her impeachment case, which has been buttressed by Ramil’s testimony.
Sara’s lawyer Michael Poa also did not lessen his client’s heavy load one bit by saying he did not know where the confidential funds went, further illuminating on the opaque system of management implemented by Sara at the OVP and the DepEd. Neither could Poa explain why he was receiving an extra monthly emolument at the DepEd while also working for OVP. The 16 defense lawyers hired by Sara to develop a legal theory to debunk the evidence against her should now have their hands full. There is no antidote for the truth even if Goebbels and psywar experts maintained that bombarding people with lies for at least two months would convince people that they are true. The Hungarians just falsified this by kicking Victor Orban out of office.#
