She came solo, bringing nothing except maybe a USB of the video of what her staff had earlier presented to the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Romualdez. Vice President Sara Duterte was visibly a picture of true grit, with knowledge of what the partylist representatives were up to and confident she could tackle the salivating bullies right in their turf.

As expected, ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio and Kabataan Rep. Renee Louise Co acted their roles as the dominant and domineering inquisitors who questioned the ₱P902-million 2026 budget submitted by the Office of the Vice President. Earlier, the same committee passed without fanfare the ₱P36-billion budget for the Office of the President and a ₱P10-billion confidential and intelligence fund without fanfare.

The posturing of Tinio and Co was expected. Tinio is the younger version of former fellow ACT Teachers representative France Castro, who was convicted and is out on bail on kidnapping and human trafficking charges in Davao del Norte and Davao de Oro.

Previously, in Davao City, then mayor Sara Duterte, with the local intelligence community that included the NTF-ELCAC (National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict), raided what was being paraded as a resthouse for indigenous people. What was discovered was disturbing to say the least. IP children from many parts of Mindanao who were earlier reported missing turned out to be confined in the compound called “haran.” The NTF-ELCAC reported that the kids were being indoctrinated in the communist ideology in the safehouse.

The arrest, trial and conviction of Castro and the dismantling of the haran was a big setback for the Makabayan bloc partylist groups. It also led to the sudden demise of the CPP/NPA terrorists and the eventual declaration of Davao City as “insurgent free,” to be followed later by other regions in Mindanao, the Visayas and Luzon.

VP Sara expected the kind of questioning from Tinio and Co and she knew exactly how to deal with them.

Outside of the House of Representatives, and in many places in Metro Manila, angry crowds started to grow in numbers. The Appropriations Committee concluded the hearing promptly and passed the OVP’s budget. The P125-million confidential fund which Speaker Martin Romualdez and his confrere Zaldy Co had been hounding VP Sara about using the leftist partylist attack dogs, had become irrelevant following the revelation of not less than P1-trillion in scandalous ghost and substandard flood control projects, which were rooted deeply in the House of Representatives. The virus of corruption quickly infected the entire government bureaucracy, especially its weakest link — the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The political and social upheaval unraveled fast. Rep. Zaldy Co months ago was identified by VP Sara as the partner of Speaker Romualdez, who solely decided how the budget of the government would be parceled out to government agencies.

The 17 pages of blank budget allocations in the 2025 enrolled bill were the symptom of unparalleled corruption that was bound to happen in the country’s annals. The architects of corruption used the DPWH as the instrument, and this was made easy by the obvious cooperation of Cabinet member, Sec. Manuel Bonoan.

The din in the streets can no longer be contained. From Malacañang, President Marcos asked in limbo: “Bakit nagkaganito ang gobyerno natin (How did our government come to this)?” He forgot he is the President of the Republic of the Philippines.