If the Marcos Jr. administration were really interested in justice, and ensuring that taxpayer money is spent in accordance with the General Appropriations Act (GAA), then there was absolutely no need for anyone, from the President down, to throw a monkey wrench into the impeachment complaint filed by citizens and endorsed by the Makabayan Coalition.
But throw a monkey wrench into the case, Bongbong Marcos Jr. did, for inexplicable reasons and in the service of the twisted logic that the case would not benefit any Filipino. Collecting hundreds of millions, or even billions from Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio, for her unjustified spending of billions of pesos from the time she was Davao City mayor to the time she was crowned by the Marcoses as the vice president.
Marcos Jr. may have loved Sara so dearly that he could not contemplate her suffering for her misdeeds, her flawed legal arguments and her rude behavior in the two houses of Congress. By giving her a pass in collaboration with the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC), Marcos Jr. rendered meaningless the results of the seven or eight hearings conducted by the quad committee of the House of Representatives, made irrelevant the disclosures of officials from both the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd.) Truth to tell, voters never thought that the President elected during the digital election of May 9, 2022 would moonlight and act as a lawyer for Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio “pro bono.”
Marcos Jr. lost big-time when he threw caution to the wind and declared wrongly that no Filipino would benefit from impeaching Sara. Those who thought he had nerves of steel suddenly found out that he would simply forgive and forget despite the fact that his Team Unity had gone to the dogs. Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio saw the Marcos Jr. order for the Lower House to stop the impeachment case as a victory that proved all the allegations leveled against her as “false,” “fabrications” and the result of a conspiracy designed to “besmirch” whatever is left of her reputation, “her good name” and “absolutely excellent chances” of beating anyone in the 2028 presidential race. Sara is not only entitled to her own lies; she is also entitled to her illusions.
The allegations against Sara are the following: The waste of P125 million in confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) given by the Palace to the OVP in 2022 in just 11 days; no accounting of the P150-million of the P500-million CIF for OVP; squandered P2.735-billion during her incumbency as Davao City mayor; left DepEd with P12-billion in disallowances, suspensions and charges; left DepEd with P7-billion in unliquidated cash advances; “rigged” the bidding of P2-billion worth of laptops and other electronic devices at DepEd; unexplained and ill-gotten wealth, money laundering involving more than P111-million to her personal accounts and hundreds of millions deposited to her accounts and hundreds of millions deposited in an account held jointly with her father from 2007 to 2015, clearly disproportionate to their legitimate sources of income in eight years.
Bribery and unexplained receipt of hundreds of millions of pesos from known drug kingpin Sammy Uy; failure to reports and reflect the subject bank deposits as well as other insurance and investment accounts in her Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) as required by the Constitution and existing laws; illegal law practice by maintaining her law office during her incumbency as vice president in direct violation of Article VII, Sec. 13 of the 1986 Constitution; abandoned the people during the height of Typhoon Carina and took a flight to Germany at a time of great public need, a betrayal of the people’s trust and absolute absence of empathy; only 3.01% or 192 out of 7,550 classrooms targeted for repairs were fixed; zero accomplishment for DepEd’s computerization project, and; DepEd was left with P15.486-billion in unutilized allotments in 2023.
Moreover, Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio was involved in the Davao Death Squad (DDS) killings from 2011 to 2013 and from 2016 to 2022 when she was city mayor. She also opened bank accounts with her father, Rodrigo Duterte, and husband, Atty. Manasas “Mans” Carpio, into which suspected drug kingpin Sammy Uy deposited cash and checks. Uy has been dubbed as the bogus economic adviser of Duterte Sr. while his other economic adviser, Michael Yang is linked with the Pharmally and POGO scams as well as the billions of shabu seized in a Porac, Pampanga warehouse supposedly owned by another Yang brother. Allan Lim, another suspected drug kingpin, has close ties with Michael Yang.
From 2016 to 2022, Rep. Polong Duterte took home P51 billion worth of infrastructure projects for Davao City and the entire Davao Region that could have funded flood control projects. This year, under Mayor Baste Duterte, Davao City suffered devastating floods, raising questions about the effectiveness of the much-touted flood control projects built by former Public Works Secretary and now Sen. Mark Villar, who was supposed to have constructed durable flood control facilities in the perennially-flooded Davao City and in Pampanga. With the mountains of evidence collected against Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio at the OVP and DepEd, as well corroborated testimonies about the unauthorized dispensing of CIF funds to her bodyguards, she is doomed, which Marcos Jr. doesn’t want to admit.
