Sara is lucky Miriam is no longer around

 

“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.”

—Edmund Burke

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

IF the late Iloilo Senator, Dr. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, were alive today, the furor over the abusive and brazen requests by the country’s second highest elected official for the sordid and astronomical “confidential” and “intelligence” funds or CIF, would have been “settled” right away.

The bombastic Ilongga former jurist, one of the best presidents the Philippines never had, would have flatly told the requestor on her face in the budget committee hearing: “No way!”

“No way” because No. 1 it’s unconstitutional and Defensor-Santiago, a constitutional genius, would only allow anything that go against the charter “over my dead body.”

“No way” because the requests seemed to be immoral and bereft of logic and common sense (since when did the education department dabble in deep intelligence gathering that would warrant a budget of multi-million pesos?)

But it appears no one from among the present set of opposition firebrands in congress can halt Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s temerity to collect atrocious CIF for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) where she is the secretary.

 

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The P125 million “confidential” fund for DepEd and the P500 million “intelligence” fund for OVP sought by Mrs. Duterte-Carpio have been approved despite the cavil of  Senators Riza Hontiveros and Koko Pimentel, two known opposition legislators.

The vice president is lucky the hard-hitting Iloilo lady senator was no longer around when she tried to justify the request for the mind-boggling largesse at the expense of the taxpayers.

At the onset, it would seem like Hontiveros and Pimental were hellbent to neatly eviscerate Mrs. Duterte-Carpio’s highly suspicious and scandalous funding requests with their stunning questions and presentation of facts.

Hontiveros boomed: “There is no good reason why the Office of the Vice President should have confidential fund allocations that are larger than the combined confidential budgets of our top security agencies.”

The OVP's proposed P500-million CIF—which has less auditing and reporting requirements than regular public funds—"tower over" the combined P438.2 million in confidential and intelligence funds allocated for the Department of National Defense and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), Hontiveros further averred.

The lady senator warned, "There is something fundamentally wrong when the OVP alone has a confidential fund of half a billion pesos while the NICA itself, which is the government's primary intelligence arm, has confidential and intelligence funds of only P341.2 million.”

 

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For his part, Pimental argued that while Mrs. Duterte-Carpio already manifested that her office could live without a P500-million CIF, the OVP still included it in its proposal to the Department of Budget and Management.

"When you look at the Constitution and any other law, what legal basis led us to include it in the proposed budget ... that P500 million confidential fund?" Pimentel asked the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Pimentel questioned the government’s understanding of the plight and commitment to serve ordinary Filipinos in allocating an increase in confidential and intelligence funds in the proposed P5.768-trillion budget for 2024 in a statement on August 5.

He explained: “The allocation of P9.2 billion to confidential and intelligence funds while our fellow Filipinos in calamity-stricken areas suffer raises serious questions about the government’s understanding of the real needs and challenges faced by our country.”

But, still the same, the CIF requested by the “spoiled brat” had been approved.

It perfectly confirmed the widespread belief that “what Inday Sara wants Inday Sara gets” even if her father is no longer in power. After all, she is being penciled for president in 2028 against an opposition perceived to be enfeeble and inutile.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed) 

 

Why they are all afraid of Sara Duterte-Carpio

 “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”

—Plato

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

ANYBODY who can name a Filipino politician today—especially an incumbent mayor, governor, representative, senator—that is not afraid of Vice President Sara “Inday Sara” Duterte-Carpio, is either was born only yesterday, or didn’t study or follow the incredible Philippine politics in the last 12 years.

Twelve years ago, Mrs. Duterte-Carpio, who concurrently sits as Department of Education (DepEd) secretary, hogged the headlines when, as mayor of Davao City in Mindanao, punched several times a court sheriff in full view of residents and reporters for ignoring her request to delay the demolition of the houses owned by informal settlers in one village.

But that’s not the main reason why we think most incumbent politicians today shake in their boots when they deal with the daughter of the most feared president to ever hold office in Malacanang.

It’s because of her maiden name: Duterte.

We all know that if she was not the daughter of her father and at that time the highest elected politician in Davao City, then Mayor Duterte-Carpio wouldn’t even dare to chide the court sheriff in public. 

Many Filipino politicians are really showy and behave like brats in public—especially when they aspire for higher elective positions in government.

 

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In the case of Mrs. Carpio-Duterte, it is rumored that even her own loquacious and hard-hitting father is afraid of her. 

Just take a look at how she behaved and listen to the words she’d spoken days before announcing she was running for vice president alongside then standard bearer and now President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

Father Duterte, who wanted the daughter to shoot straight for the presidency, couldn’t stop the daughter from “demoting” herself as she settled for the vice presidency.

But let’s go straight to the point without beating the bush. What are or were the signs that apparently the present set of politicians holding national portfolios are “afraid” of the vice president?

Simple. Vice President Duterte-Carpio gets what she wants in this present administration. 

Even without dancing like Salome, she could demand for the beheading of not only one but many John the Baptists.

Already the Office of the Vice President has successfully amassed P150 million worth of “intelligence fund” in 2022. As if the initial amount of taxpayers money being inappropriately set aside wasn’t horrifying, to say the least, Mrs. Duterte-Carpio’s office again was able to collect P500 million in “intelligence fund”, among other expenses, this year.

To make the badly abused taxpayers puke some more, the Office of the Vice President is again reportedly proposing the same amount (P500 million) for “intelligence fund”, among other expenses, in 2024.

And we haven’t discussed yet the gargantuan and shocking budget she asked and got as DepEd secretary for the same dog: “intelligence fund”, which, luckily, is now slowly (and let’s hope the worried senators can sustain it) gathering some storm of scrutiny in the legislature.  

 

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Vice President Duterte-Carpio got the windfall or managed to wrap up the “pennies from heaven” for her office with ease sans any desolation and opposition.

It’s because, as what the title of this article has emphasized, “they are all (apparently) afraid of Sara Carpio-Duterte.”

If they are vigilant and intrepid, the lawmakers, through check and balance, have the power and authority to derail if not stop this wanton abuse and “waste” of the taxpayers money by the Office of the Vice President and DepEd under Mrs. Duterte-Carpio via the guise of “intelligence fund” that is not covered by any audit report. 

Without the Commission on Audit prying over the intelligence fund, it was feared that past beneficiaries of this ridiculous expenditure were able to enrich themselves by pocketing a hefty portion of the total budget. This is reportedly an old practice that is only being revived by unscrupulous public officials.

During the House and Senate budget committee hearings, the lawmakers can squeeze the vice president and stop her on her tracks. 

The problem is most of them are adamant and afraid to subject the vice president and DepEd secretary to a thorough questioning. We miss Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Joker Arroyo, Nene Pimentel, Ninoy Aquino, and other bombastic legislative gatekeepers and “curators” of public funds.

We aren’t saying that the vice president will steal the money, but there’s a saying that if the rat is laughing at the cat, it’s because there’s a hole nearby. 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)