Ortega: Sara’s 2028 bid confirms political repositioning

Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega V of La Union on Wednesday said Vice President Sara Duterte’s declaration to run for President in 2028 confirms that her break from the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. was political repositioning rather than a principled stand against corruption or inefficiency.

“The announcement removes any ambiguity,” Ortega said. “The distancing was not rooted in governance reform. It was part of a larger electoral trajectory.”

Ortega said tensions within the alliance escalated following congressional scrutiny of confidential and intelligence funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President and previously to the Department of Education during Duterte’s tenure as secretary.

“When Congress exercised its constitutional power of oversight and sought explanations on how confidential and intelligence funds were utilized, transparency became the central issue,” Ortega said.

He noted that the Vice President declined to publicly detail the utilization framework, citing confidentiality.

“No one disputes the existence of lawful confidential funds,” Ortega said. “The issue was accountability — the duty to explain to the Filipino people how public money is safeguarded within legal parameters.”

According to Ortega, the dispute shifted from institutional engagement to political disengagement as oversight mechanisms were activated.

“The timeline is clear. Questions were raised. Oversight mechanisms were activated. Instead of institutional engagement, we saw political disengagement,” he said.

The confidential fund controversy later became a central component of the impeachment complaint filed against Duterte.

“The impeachment process is constitutional. It is not political theater,” Ortega emphasized. “The complaint centered on alleged misuse and failure to properly account for confidential and intelligence funds — not on partisan differences.”

Ortega also pointed out that Duterte served nearly two years within the administration without publicly raising systemic corruption or inefficiency concerns.

“If corruption and inefficiency were the real reasons, those concerns should have been documented while she was inside the Cabinet,” he said. “Instead, the rupture coincided with fiscal scrutiny and institutional questioning.”

With Duterte’s formal declaration of a presidential bid, Ortega said the political context is now clear.

“Succession politics reshape alliances. That is reality,” he said. “But let us not retroactively frame political repositioning as moral departure.”

He concluded by defending Congress’ oversight role.

“Congress has the constitutional mandate to scrutinize public expenditures. Asking questions about confidential and intelligence funds is not harassment. It is governance,” Ortega said.

“If one chooses to run for President, that is a democratic right. But the public deserves clarity: the break from the administration was triggered by accountability measures — not by a sudden discovery of corruption or inefficiency,” he added.

“The Filipino people can evaluate the facts. The chronology speaks for itself,” Ortega said.