Jamaine Punzalan

Ramil Madriaga arrives at the House of Representatives and is sworn in before the House Committee on Justice on April 14, 2026, as he testifies during the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Jervis 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/177621750783220260414-vp-sara-impeachment-ramil-madriaga-MT9.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Ramil Madriaga arrives at the House of Representatives and is sworn in before the House Committee on Justice on April 14, 2026, as he testifies during the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</span></span></span></div><p>MANILA<strong> (4th UPDATE) </strong>— Vice President Sara Duterte said Wednesday she took offense with Ramil Madriaga’s claim that she &quot;needed someone to help me get through law school,&quot; an allegation made during the second impeachment hearing at the House of Representatives.</p><p>Duterte said she graduated from law school in May 2005 and passed the Bar Exam in September of the same year. </p><p>&quot;The exam that year was relatively difficult. I passed the Bar on my first attempt with a GWA of 80, five points above the minimum,&quot; Duterte said in a statement.</p><p>&quot;I never asked any professor for special accommodation for my grades because the bare minimum was easy enough to meet. I was never the subject of any complaint for rudeness or violence against other students at SSC-R College of Law,&quot; she added.</p><p>Duterte called the allegations at the impeachment proceedings as &quot;lies&quot; and referred to the hearing as a &quot;mini trial.&quot;</p><p>&quot;I completed my studies on my own terms. I placed a higher premium on living a well-rounded life rather than pursuing academic excellence,&quot; Duterte said.</p><p>Duterte said “Madriaga and his cohorts in the House of Representatives do not come close to my capacity to achieve results with very little effort because they cannot even weave a believable lie, much less follow the rule of law.”</p><p>Madriaga told the panel on Wednesday that he personally “disposed” the Office of the Vice President’s <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/14/-wait-madriaga-claims-he-disposed-of-ovp-s-p125-m-confidential-funds-in-less-than-24-hours-1424">P125-million confidential funds “in less than 24 hours.”</a> He also claimed that the Vice President’s father Rodrigo Duterte used him to open dummy bank accounts during his presidency.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FabscbnNEWS%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0vkArBtp58YqRfiMaWJ2A2kHX8gwLvTbxXRBytuP7aQFWGCgs6z8UHtZy1NEi9UuAl&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500" width="500" height="479" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>Duterte responded in broad terms, saying the Committee on Justice was only capable of abuse and corruption.</p><p>However, her statement did not directly address the bigger allegations, such as the alleged fund misuse. </p><p>&quot;Mga kababayan, this mini-trial in the Committee on Justice is true to form for some of its members: abuse and corruption appear to be the only things they are capable of,&quot; she said in her statement.</p><p>&quot;Let us remember that the first impeachment case itself was marred by allegations of bribery involving members of the HOR, and this second impeachment is no better,&quot; she added.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/14/madriaga-weakest-link-in-impeachment-case-duterte-s-lawyer-claims-1708">Madriaga &#x27;weakest link&#x27; in impeachment case, Duterte&#x27;s lawyer claims</a></div><p>Duterte ended her statement by raising the issue of the &quot;price crisis&quot; and the government&#x27;s response. </p><p>&quot;The failure of the administration to provide relief in this price crisis is not due to a lack of resources, but because public funds are being used for political maneuvering to avoid accountability for the most corrupt budget in our country’s history,&quot; she ended.</p><p>The Marcos administration has rolled out several programs to address higher prices due to the Middle East conflict, including cash aid and fuel subsidies for affected transportation workers. </p><p>Rep. Terry Ridon, a member of the House Committee on Justice, urged Duterte to show up and bring her up grievances to the panel.</p><p>&quot;Mas mainam na sa House impeachment hearings niya banggitin mismo ang mga kontrang pahayag na ito, imbes na sa mga press statement at sa mga press conference ng kanyang mga abogado,&quot; Ridon said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>CONFIDENTIAL FUNDS</strong></div><div> </div><p>For Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua, while Madriaga&#x27;s testimony was &quot;explosive,&quot; questions remained regarding how the confidential funds had been used.</p><p>&quot;Ang question pa rin dito, saan napunta ang confidential funds? Was it used according to what it is supposed to be used?&quot; Chua told ANC.</p><p>He also said that Madriaga&#x27;s bank accounts &quot;did not prove anything&quot; with respect to Duterte, because they only prove his supposed &quot;connection&quot; to the Dutertes and not her alleged questionable wealth.</p><p>Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno meanwhile stressed the need for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to return some P73 million in confidential funds, after the Commission of Audit (COA) <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/14/coa-denies-sara-duterte-petition-to-review-notice-of-disallowance-over-p73-m-confidential-funds-1905">affirmed its notice of disallowance</a> for the amount.</p><p>&quot;What was telling to me was the reasons for disallowance have to do with the fact that these funds were given by special disbursing officer of the Vice President to the ground commander of VPSPG (Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group),&quot; Diokno told ANC.</p><p>&quot;When you&#x27;re holding public funds, you are responsible for those funds and disburse them in accordance with their purpose,&quot; he said.</p><p>The COA, in August last year, issued the notice of disallowance on the OVP&#x27;s spending of some P73,287,000 out of the P125-million confidential funds.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;UNVERIFIABLE&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Paolo Panelo Jr., Duterte&#x27;s legal counsel for the perjury case against Madriaga, on Wednesday assailed the House panel and the credibility of Madriaga, saying his allegations were &quot;unverifiable.&quot;</p><p>&quot;He did not take pics of these cash deliveries. We have no way of testing whether these allegations are true... Clearly, to the impeachment defense team, Congress is not the proper forum. Look at what happened yesterday, it&#x27;s a committee composed of political opponents of the Vice President. They have prejudged this hearing,&quot; Panelo said.</p><p>Panelo also criticized Rep. Gerville Luistro, chairperson of the House Justice Committee, for allowing Madriaga&#x27;s supplemental affidavit to be read out even though she repeatedly rejected &quot;probing&quot; questions in the hearing.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s par for the course, we expected this maneuvering from them,&quot; he said.</p><p>For Panelo, Madriaga&#x27;s bank waiver will not do so much as &quot;it won&#x27;t show who the money went to and where the money came from.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Madriaga has no evidence linking all these to the former president [Rodrigo Duterte] and the Vice President,&quot; he said.</p><p>If House lawmakers decide to again impeach Sara Duterte, Panelo said her defense team &quot;is ready to confront&quot; the allegations and explain where the funds went.  </p><p> &quot;I think majority of the Filipino people will see [this as] politically motivated proceedings, and question why waste resources on this,&quot; he said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEOS</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/0OvvwAMJpZ0?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><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/23FtJV3XLWo?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><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/FzhSQyaqRfg?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br style="caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0)"/></div>

<p>Vice President Sara Duterte said Wednesday she took offense with Ramil Madriaga’s claim that she "needed someone to help me get through law school," an allegation made during the second impeachment hearing at the House of Representatives.</p>

Vice President Sara Duterte said Wednesday she took offense with Ramil Madriaga’s claim that she "needed someone to help me get through law school," an allegation made during the second impeachment hearing at the House of Representatives.

'They cannot even weave a believable lie': Sara Duterte takes issue with Madriaga's law school claims

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'They cannot even weave a believable lie': Sara Duterte takes issue with Madriaga's law school claims

Jervis Manahan,

ABS-CBN News

Published April 15, 2026 09:47 AM PHT

|

Updated April 15, 2026 03:46 PM PHT

Read More:

Sara Duterte

Madriaga

impeachment

House

confidential funds

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