Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

Philippine Vice President Sara Z. Duterte attends the plenary deliberations on the 2026 budget of the Office of the Vice President at the Philippine Senate in Pasay City on November 27, 2025. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Job Manahan

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/176569356161520251127-senate-budget-deliberation-vp-sara-JC6509_cropped_processed_by_imagy.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Philippine Vice President Sara Z. Duterte attends the plenary deliberations on the 2026 budget of the Office of the Vice President at the Philippine Senate in Pasay City on November 27, 2025. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>MANILA — A political analyst on Sunday urged groups and stakeholders to look into other issues against Vice President Sara Duterte when filing complaints and ensure these have “stronger legal merit,” noting this could lay the groundwork for a fresh impeachment complaint against the official. </p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/12/12/sara-duterte-ovp-and-deped-execs-face-plunder-raps-over-confidential-funds-1334">Sara Duterte, 15 others face plunder raps over confidential funds</a></div><p>Duterte, with 15 others, is facing plunder, graft, bribery, and malversation complaints over an alleged &quot;deliberate system&quot; to mishandle P612.5-million in confidential funds.</p><p>The complaint also included Office of the Vice President (OVP) chief-of-staff Zuleika Lopez and former Department of Education undersecretary Michael Poa.</p><p>But if groups want a better case against Duterte or establish a stronger one, they “need to go beyond confidential funds,” said Prof. Froilan Calilung, who teaches at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Political Science Department. </p><p>“Parang nag-file ka ng plunder case but you don’t really have strong evidence to back it up. Dito lamang sa course ng pag-file mo sa Ombudsman, it is like you are asking the Ombudsman to do the preliminary evidence-gathering for you but you are the one who filed it,” Calilung said in an interview on DZMM Teleradyo.  </p><p>“Dapat mayroon ka nang solidong evidence to begin with. I don’t know if the piles of paper there na dala-dala nila, I really don’t know if yun ay sapat na. Kasi kung titingnan mo mayroong shock factor kung titingnan mo… pero ano ba ang laman nun?” he added. </p><p>Calilung said this could be used later on for a possibility of filing a “stronger impeachment case” against Duterte. </p><p>“Kumbaga you are already paving or clearing the path towards that or leaning towards the possibility. Pero yung Ombudsman kasi, you need to understand, ang gagawin lang naman niya basically is preponderance at pagtingin dito sa mga preliminary evidence,” the analyst said. </p><p>“If the Ombudsman feels there is a strong case, then tsaka siya mag-elevate ng kaso either to the Sandiganbayan, or if it is an impeachment, pwede niyang i-transmit sa Congress so they would be able to have a stronger case buildup against the Vice President,” he added.</p><p>The Office of the Ombudsman, he added, would look into these complaints thoroughly.</p><p>“This will be supplementary evidence for the possibility of filing an impeachment complaint against the Vice President mainly. Ang nakita ko dito ay yung optics and the narrative that they would want to create is very obvious,” he said. </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>BAYAN PREPARING FOR IMPEACHMENT </strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) chair Teddy Casiño, for his part, said they are already preparing for Duterte’s next impeachment complaint. </p><p>In an interview, Casiño said it is “interesting” what would happen to Duterte’s plunder complaint at the Office of the Ombudsman, noting that this should be acted on first.</p><p>“Noong nakaraan, ang iniisip na papel ng Ombudsman, puwede siya mag-imbestiga pero ang kaso mapupunta din sa Kongreso through impeachment,” said Casiño</p><p>“Sa bahagi ng group namin, we are preparing for [the] next impeachment fight by February,” he said.</p><p>Earlier on Saturday, Duterte said the plunder complaint filed against her is a &quot;fishing expedition&quot; weaponized &quot;to create a semblance of procedural legitimacy for an investigation.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/12/13/sara-duterte-says-plunder-complaint-against-her-weaponized-for-probe-0912">‘Fishing expedition’: Sara Duterte says plunder complaint against her weaponized for probe</a></div><p>Casiño said they would monitor the developments regarding this.</p><p>“Ito yung paraan sa Konstitusyon paano panagutin ang impeachable official. So aantabayanan natin kung paano iha-handle ito ng Ombudsman kasi mayroong prinsipyo na immune from suit ang mga impeachable officials. At kailangan muna sila matanggal sa puwesto bago sila makasuhan,” Casiño said. </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PjrkS8TKTKg?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>A political analyst urged groups to look into other issues against Vice President Sara Duterte when filing complaints and ensure these have “stronger legal merit."</p>

A political analyst urged groups to look into other issues against Vice President Sara Duterte when filing complaints and ensure these have “stronger legal merit."

‘Go beyond confidential funds’: Analyst weighs in on plunder raps vs VP Sara

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‘Go beyond confidential funds’: Analyst weighs in on plunder raps vs VP Sara

Job Manahan,

ABS-CBN News

Published December 14, 2025 02:27 PM PHT

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