DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Okay pa ba mo, Davao?
The issues on Vice President Sara Duterte in the past two weeks have flooded headlines and social media, from the impeachment complaints over the confidential funds and her outburst threatening President Bongbong Marcos and his family.
Rallies in Davao and EDSA have not mustered huge numbers in support of the beleaguered VP. As these issues are constant topics of conversations, a recent podcast in Rappler interviewed Davao opinion makers who admit there’s a lot of things to process.
“For a long time, people of Davao were proud of many things, such as Digong becoming the president. But we are now asking, what has happened? We used to be this, but now we are this?” NGO worker Mags Maglana reflected during the podcast.
Maglana dispelled the idea that Davawenyos are all solid for the Dutertes. “That’s not what you get on social media, but that’s a different world. It’s safe to say, the ordinary folks in Davao are confused and concerned about how to move forward,” she said.
This year saw the disintegration of the Uniteam between the Dutertes and the Marcoses. The Duterte patriarch, former President Rodrigo, mobilized supporters against the House of Representatives’ push for charter change and once again called Bongbong a drug addict.
VP Sara Duterte made the split official when she resigned from her post as education secretary in July. The rift intensified when she clashed with Senate and House members during the budget hearings, which led to the ongoing committee hearing, and the detention of Sara’s chief of staff that led to her outburst against the Marcoses.
The Dutertes are framing the committee hearings as political maneuvering to impeach Sara and derail her path to the presidency. But Duterte critics said this allegation does not hide the issue of the misuse of confidential funds.
Arvin Dexter Lopoz, spokesperson of the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao, said the ongoing committee hearings broadcast on social media almost every day was an eye-opener, especially to Davawenyos, that using confidential funds have limits.
“The public now realized that confidential funds are not blank checks” for certain government officials to spend on a whim. That even when the exact expenditures may not be fully inquired into (but) the disbursement and limitations provided by law can actually be scrutinized in detail, as confidential funds are still taxpayers’ money,” Lopoz wrote on his Facebook account.
The committee hearings unearthed irregularities on the Office of the Vice President (OVP)’s use of her P612.5 million confidential funds from 2022 to 2023. These include excessive spending on rentals and maintenance, irregular spending such as holding a youth summit and spending on medical expenses, irregularities on acknowledgment receipts amounting to P23 million which include erroneous dates and names including Mary Grace Piattos, and lack of transparency in the office’s reports.
The vice president defended its confidential funds during 2022 as a means to conduct surveillance for peace and security in schools from crimes and insurgency. But staff members of the Department of Education testified in the hearing that they had no idea how their department had spent the P112.5 million confidential funds in 2023.
Given these anomalies, Maglana reflected Sara Duterte’s P2.7 billion in confidential funds during her term as mayor from 2016 to 2022.
“This is a time to also understand deeper about the problems the people are facing. Why am I saying this? 2.67 billion pesos is not a small amount and we don’t know how it was spent, if this was spent for the benefit of the people in Davao,” Maglana said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Lawyer Angelina Razo from the Ateneo de Davao College of Law said this sentiment comes from living with the Dutertes who have carved their political name in the city. “A lot of people still want to have faith in the Dutertes. They don’t want to see VP Sara lose something for the longest time they have built,” she points out on the same Rappler podcast.
Both Maglana and Razo observed that the Dutertes have themselves to blame for contributing to the Marcos victory in 2022.
“There’s no issue that the Dutertes can raise against the Marcoses that will also leave their hands clean. They were the ones who endorsed Marcos in Davao,” Maglana said.
“Sentiments from level headed people blame Sara for not listening to the advice of the patriarch (in 2022),” Razo added.
But Razo said that after VP Sara’s recent actions and statements, there are now people rethinking their support for her plans for 2028.
She added that she was disturbed by the vice president’s accusations against First Lady Liza Marcos for involvement of the confidential funds.
“It’s disturbing. She’s normalizing corruption. She’s saying the first family gave her the funds, so why is she singled out for corruption? We should talk more about this. It’s not normal, yet she perpetrates that she is a victim here,” Razo said.
She urged fellow lawyers to go beyond the matter of rivalry between two dominant dynasties.
“This is serious, do we need to settle between choosing Kadiliman versus Kasamaan? Isn’t it our job as lawyers not to choose the lesser evil but decimate all evils?”
Maglana and Razo hope there would be lessons to pick up from this current political crisis.
“We need political education, and not just voters’ education. We need to remind ourselves that hailing leaders doesn’t mean we are powerless followers who will follow the line on the leaders. We have our own powers, your own powers will make you see through the lies and the drama, to always hold on to what is important to you,” Maglana said. “Both Marcos and Duterte should be held accountable, it’s time to assert the people’s concerns. They are accountable for the use of public funds.”
“It’s a wake-up call to choose the right leaders,” Razo added. “Leaders who govern with sincerity, honesty and integrity.” (davaotoday.com)
duterte, marcos, philippines
