Progressive lawmakers in the House of Representatives (HoR) criticized Vice President Sara Duterte’s response to allegations made by her alleged bagman Ramil Madriaga that focused on her performance as a law student instead of replying to accusations of misspent confidential funds.
The Makabayan Coalition Duterte should explain how her cumulative P612.5 million (Dh37.5) in confidential funds from 2022 to 2024 were spent and not focus on her law school performance.
“We are not concerned with academic records or law school transcripts. What we—and the Filipino people—demand are clear answers on how P612.5 million in confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education were used, accounted for, and whether these served legitimate public purposes,” Makabayan said.
Duterte on Wednesday defended her law school record by saying she did not need special assistance to graduate, as alleged by Madriaga in last Tuesday’s clarificatory hearing on impeachment complaints against the vice president.
Reacting to an affidavit read before members of the HoR Committee on Justice (CoJ) that she was a poor law student, Duterte said she “personally takes issue” with claims that she needed help to get through law school.
Madriaga, a fellow San Sebastian College of Law alumnus, claimed vice president was not “particularly good in school, often struggling with her academics.”
Quoting former San Sebastian Law Associate Dean Ryan Rey Quilala, Madriaga said in his supplemental affidavit that Duterte was also habitually rude and violent to other students.
Quilala used his influence to ensure that Sara received passing grades despite her poor academic performance, Madriaga said.
Duterte bristled at the allegation, saying: “Of all the lies thrown during the Committee on Justice ‘mini trial’ on April 14, the one I personally take issue with is the claim, made by a bar flunker and kidnapping suspect, that I needed someone to help me get through law school.”
Duterte said she completed her legal studies “on her own terms,” denying special academic accommodations or having been the subject of any complaint as a student.
She also said she passed the tough bar examinations in 2005, “five points beyond the passing grade of 75 per cent.”
Originally a student of top notch San Beda College of Law where her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, was an alumnus, the younger Duterte transferred to San Sebastian due to undisclosed reasons.
Rodrigo himself almost failed to graduate from law school after shooting a classmate for an alleged slight. Former senator Rene Saguisag, San Beda College of Law acting dean at the time of the incident, recommended expulsion but Benedictine monks allowed the future president to graduate in the spirit of compassion.
CoJ member Rep. Terry Ridon said the vice president could have personally confronted her accuser if she attended Tuesday’s hearing.
Ridon added that beyond the issue of her student life, Duterte could have personally explained Madriaga’s claims that he delivered P125 million (Dh7.65 million) worth of confidential and intelligence funds to three locations in under 24 hours.
Ridon also pointed out that even if Duterte retuned P73 million (Dh4.6 million) in confidential funds as the Commission on Audit ordered, it will not prevent the HoR from its ongoing impeachment probes. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
