Cornered animal, indeed

Cornered animal, indeed | Daily Tribune

An “appalled and enraged” Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte reacted fiercely to his sister, Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment by 215 of his 306 colleagues in the House of Representatives for serious breach of the Constitution. He hurled threats against the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., saying it was “treading on dangerous ground.”

Alluding to the massive rally organized by the Iglesia ni Cristo on 13 January, he also warned the administration that if “they were unfazed by the over one million rallying supporters of the INC, then they are blindly marching toward an even greater storm, one that could shake the very foundation of their rule.”

Has Paolo Duterte forgotten that the rally had been called by the religious sect in support of the President’s expressed wishes against moves to impeach the Vice President?

Again, a strong warning: “The Filipino people will not sit idly by as this government undermines democracy and silences opposition through fabricated accusations.”

Is he referring to the findings of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, which uncovered alleged irregularities in handling by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) of P500 million in confidential funds between late 2022 and the third quarter of 2023, as well as the P112.5 million allocated to the Department of Education, which his sister concurrently led for a year?

Seven hearings by the committee also yielded findings that included falsified acknowledgment receipts signed by fictitious individuals like “Mary Grace Piattos,” who were listed as recipients of confidential funds. No records of such names were found after a thorough search by the Philippine Statistics Authority, indicating that these names may have been fabricated.

Likewise, it was found that the OVP, in 2022, spent P16 million to rent 34 safehouses for just 11 days, with one safehouse costing over P90,000 per day.

Duterte’s office also claimed to have allocated P15 million for youth leadership summits supposedly conducted with the Philippine Army. The latter denied receiving funds, stating that these activities were funded jointly by the military and local government units. This has raised suspicions that projects were being fabricated to justify requests for and the use of funds.

Meanwhile, not to be outdone, an equally angered Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte lashed out at the President and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, calling them “cornered animals becoming aggressive.”

Can anyone recall the ugly sight of the Vice President of the Republic in a darkened room, her face contorted by seething rage, maddened by the House’s order to transfer her chief of staff, Atty. Zuleika Lopez, from the House detention center to a women’s prison in Mandaluyong City on 23 November 2025?

Lopez had been detained by the House for contempt during a probe into the alleged misuse of the OVP’s confidential and intelligence funds.

In her employee’s detention center, the VP, over Zoom, went into a tirade profuse with profanities, saying, “This country is going to hell because we are led by a person who doesn’t know how to be president and who is a liar,” and then cursed, “P_ng ina ninyong lahat, Martin Romualdez, (First Lady) Liza Marcos, (President Ferdinand) Bongbong Marcos!”

She then revealed, “I have talked to a person, and I said, if I get killed, go kill BBM (the President’s moniker), (First Lady) Liza Araneta and (Speaker) Martin Romualdez. No joke, no joke! I said do not stop until you kill them, and he said, ‘yes.’”

If that doesn’t sound like a cornered animal turned fiercely aggressive, then we don’t know what does.

The death threats she made against the President, et al., were among the seven allegations cited by the 215 members of the House of Representatives, including 41 or 60 representatives from the supposedly Duterte stronghold of Mindanao, who backed a fourth impeachment complaint and voted to impeach her from office.

The other articles of impeachment in that fourth complaint, which were filed and endorsed by the House members, included an earlier public statement by the VP about her desire to behead Marcos out of hatred; alleged misuse of confidential funds totaling at least P255 million on alleged “ghost expenses;” bribing former high-ranking DepEd officials, including the chair of the agency’s bids and awards committee and chief accountant; and unexplained wealth, alleging that the VP amassed some P2 billion unexplained in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth filed from 2013 to 2016, with the complaint also stating how the growth in her net worth is disproportionate to her salary as a public official.

The impeachment complaint was transmitted by the House shortly before the Senate adjourned ahead of the campaign for the upcoming midterm polls in May, without convening as an impeachment court last Wednesday.

Escudero says the trial and a decision on the fate of the VP will likely take place during the 20th Congress — unless the President calls for a special session while the Senate is on break.

Whenever the impeachment trial takes place, we can only wait and see whether or not this “cornered animal” is able to wiggle out, free and unscathed, from the fix she herself has brought upon herself.