The Duterte Youth party-list on Thursday questioned the identity and credibility of Ramil Madriaga, who claims to have worked for Vice President Sara Duterte and has alleged that Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) and drug lords funded Duterte’s 2022 campaign.

At a press conference, Duterte Youth chairman Ronald Cardema said the group, which he said has worked closely with the Duterte family for more than a decade, is familiar with personnel linked to the family, particularly within the military and police, but has never encountered Madriaga.

“When we go to Davao, Malacañang, or their offices, normally, we don’t immediately know the lawyers or politicians there,” Cardema said in Filipino. “But when it comes to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police, the Presidential Security Group (PSG), and those assigned to Malacañang and Davao, we know most of them because when we go there, they even salute us."

Cardema said even Vice President Duterte’s security personnel have denied knowing Madriaga.

“The Duterte Youth party-list, the three congressmen who should be seated now — one studied at the PNPA, one at the PMA, and one at UP — we are government troops,” he said. “We don’t know this Ramil Madriaga who suddenly came out.”

“Even the security personnel, including former PSG commanders, said they don’t know him,” Cardema added.

Cardema also scrutinized claims in Madriaga’s affidavit, questioning his assertions that he worked for multiple security agencies.

The former National Youth Commission chair challenged Madriaga’s claim that he worked for both the National Security Council (NSC) and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines from 2001 to 2015.

“How could you be working in the National Security Council while also working in the intelligence service of the AFP?” Cardema said. “He has no rank in the Armed Forces, not even as a private or corporal. He has no rank in the PNP, not even as a patrolman. He is not part of the government forces, yet he claims he worked in the AFP and the NSC.”

Cardema also questioned Madriaga’s claim that he worked simultaneously at the NSC and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) from 2018 to 2020.

“How did it happen that he worked in the National Security Council and at the same time worked in the NBI under the Department of Justice?” he said. “Anybody familiar with government service would immediately know this is a lie.”

He further disputed Madriaga’s claim that he concurrently worked for the NSC, the PSG, AFP General Headquarters, and the NBI from 2018 to 2021.

“When you work in the PSG, you are a separate unit in the Armed Forces,” Cardema said. “So when he says he worked in the PSG, General Headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, the NSC in V. Luna, and the NBI in Manila all at the same time — that’s when you see how abnormal this is. Your blood pressure will really rise.”

Cardema also questioned Madriaga’s claim that he was introduced to the Duterte family by the late congressman Roilo Golez at the start of the 2016 campaign.

“You were supposedly recommended by a dead congressman to the Duterte family to provide political and security advice to Mayor Duterte?” Cardema said. “The Dutertes are veteran politicians.”

He added that Golez’s former chief of staff, Malou Tiquia, has denied knowing Madriaga.

Madriaga’s lawyer, Raymund Palad, earlier said Vice President Sara Duterte recently visited his client at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Annex 2 in Taguig, where he is being held on kidnapping charges, to “settle” legal issues. Madriaga’s camp claims the visit was an attempt to stop him from continuing his exposé.