Metro Manila, Philippines – Vice President Sara Duterte is facing another set of plunder and graft complaints with the Office of the Ombudsman over various issues, including the alleged misuse of confidential funds and the purchase of overpriced laptops during her time as education secretary.
Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and civil society group The Silent Majority filed their complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday, Jan. 21.
Their grounds were graft and corruption and plunder, bribery and culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes.
They asked the ombudsman to conduct a “swift and timely investigation and/or case build-up” and recommend to the House of Representatives the filing of an impeachment case.
“Si Sara Duterte ay marami ng paglabag sa batas, sa Konstitusyon, at sa tiwala ng mamamayang Pilipino na matagal nang pinalagpas at hindi na dapat palampasin pa,” the group’s founder Jocelyn Marie Acosta said.
[Translation: Sara Duterte has violated the law, the Constitution, and the trust of Filipino citizens many times, which have been overlooked for a long time and should not be overlooked any longer.]
Trillanes said it was a “solid case” against Duterte.
“Napakahalaga na mapanagot itong si Sara Duterte kasi bukod sa mas nauna na itong mga alegasyon na ito last year pa ito sa [House quad committee], hindi pa umuusad. Itong kay [former] Sen. Bong Revilla, linggo lang ang binilang, P90 million ang halaga,” Trillanes said, comparing Duterte against the arrest of Revilla for the non-bailable malversation case in relation to the alleged anomalous P92.8-million flood control project.
[Translation: It is important to hold Sara Duterte accountable because the allegations against her coming from the House quad committee have not progressed. Meanwhile, former Sen. Bong Revilla was arrested in weeks for a case involving P90 million.
“So dito, out of fairness and more importantly yung accountability kasi siya yung vice president…Kailangan malaman ng mga kababayan natin na isa siyang kurakot na public official,” he said.
[So, out of fairness and more importantly accountability because she’s the vice president. The public should know that she’s a corrupt public official.]
The complainants said their filing supplements the first one lodged by civil society leaders, including 2025 Ramon Magsaysay awardee Fr. Flaviano Villanueva and former Finance Undersecretary Cielo Magno.
The first plunder complaint based allegations on her alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds, which was one of the grounds of her archived impeachment case.
In the second complaint, Trillanes and The Silent Majority said Duterte committed plunder and malversation over the misuse of confidential funds in the Office of the Vice President, the Department of Education, and her mayoral term in Davao City.
There were graft and other violations during Duterte’s stint as Department of Education secretary, such as the alleged purchase of overpriced laptops, billions of pesos of alleged unliquidated cash advances, audit disallowances, and the unmet target of construction of classrooms.
They also said the vice president has ill-gotten wealth, that she supposedly received money from drug lords during her mayoralty stint, and that she was unfit to hold public office and betrayed public trust with her kill threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The Office of the Vice President has yet to issue a statement on the complaint.
Recent surveys showed Duterte had higher trust and approval scores than Marcos.
