Snitch pops up, pins P2B on VP

Vice President Sara Duterte on Saturday denied allegations that she received more than P2 billion in cash deliveries from a dismissed police officer who claimed that he transported suitcases of money to her on the instructions of former Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.

Duterte said she did not know Rodulfo “Rudy” Gracioso Jr. and had never received money from him, as the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) investigates the former police officer’s allegations.

“I do not know Rodulfo Gracioso Jr. nor have I ever received any money from him,” Duterte said in a statement.

The supposed whistleblower is a dismissed police corporal who claimed in an “exclusive” television interview to have been Velasco’s head of security from 2018 through his term as House leader from 2020 to 2022.

in an affidavit filed with the NBI, Gracioso said that on Velasco’s instructions, he delivered suitcases of cash to Sara Duterte more than 20 times, totaling over P2 billion, with individual deliveries ranging from P20 million to P50 million.

He said he made his first delivery in 2018 of P20 million to a hotel and another P500 million in 2021 that required three vans.