Madriaga camp claims VP Sara visited him in jail over Roque case

Ramil Madriaga’s camp on Thursday, 18 December, claimed that Vice President Sara Duterte visited him in prison to “talk” about his kidnapping case involving former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.

Madriaga’s lawyer, Atty. Raymund Palad, said Duterte allegedly visited his client on two occasions at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Annex 2 in Bicutan, Taguig City. He said one visit was not officially recorded, while the second allegedly took place on October 19, based on a circulating text message from a BJMP personnel, although the exact year could not be confirmed.

“The day after I visited, which was October 19, text messages from BJMP personnel circulated stating that Atty. Palad visited on October 18, and that VP Sara visited the following day,” Palad said in Filipino.

“I cannot recall the exact date and time of the first visit because when I asked Ramil, ‘Why can’t you remember the dates?’ he replied, ‘Attorney, there are no calendars in the BJMP,’” he added.

Palad said the alleged purpose of the Vice President’s visit was to discuss Madriaga’s kidnapping case, which he claimed was linked to a supposed land-grabbing issue in Mariveles, Bataan involving Roque. Madriaga was earlier described as a supposed former “staff” of Duterte.

“The purpose was supposedly to settle things and resolve the problem, and based on my conversation with Ramil, to definitely settle his kidnapping case,” Palad said.

According to Palad, Madriaga was initially on good terms with the Vice President. However, during the alleged second visit, Madriaga reportedly began to doubt Duterte’s intentions and refused to meet her face to face.

Palad said subsequent visits to Madriaga were made by staff members of the Vice President at BJMP Annex 2. These visits were reportedly presented as part of a program to assist detainees’ families and collect personal information.

“The following visit was by the VP's staff, who were supposedly there to provide some kind of aid to all the detainees; they were collecting the names of the children, their ages, and addresses. That was when Ramil became suspicious—there are so many jails here in Bicutan, like Annex 1, 2, and 5, so why only there?” Palad said in Filipino.

Palad said these supposed initiatives further raised doubts about the Vice President’s intentions.

Earlier, Madriaga’s legal team submitted an affidavit to the Office of the Ombudsman seeking assistance in subpoenaing three mobile phones belonging to Madriaga, which are currently with the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 21, to retrieve information related to their claims.

A similar request was also sent to the National Bureau of Investigation.

As of press time, the BJMP has yet to confirm or comment on the alleged visits of Vice President Duterte.