Gracioso‘s notoriety

The presentation by the House Committee on Justice and the executive branch of a recidivist criminal with a life sentence and a notorious police scalawag dishonorably discharged from the service as witnesses against Vice President Sara Duterte is quite baffling.

The latest is Rodulfo Gracioso Jr., a patrolman dismissed for various offenses. His misconduct must have been grave for the Philippine National Police to impose the severest punishment — forfeiture of retirement benefits, cancellation of eligibility, and permanent disqualification from government service.

All we know for now is that he was endorsed to NBI director Melvin Matibag by a formerly drug-rehabbed priest who is notoriously anti-Duterte.

Thereafter, Gracioso came up with a flurry of allegations, including the delivery of cash in suitcases to VP Sara, to former President Rodrigo Duterte, and to Davao City 1st District Rep. Pulong Duterte. He claimed he did so on the instructions of his former boss, ex-Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.

Gracioso, in his perorations, added sweeteners to impress the public that he was close to former President Duterte. The storytelling, however, only proved his allegations were replete with prevarications and inconsistencies.

With an air of braggadocio, he boasted in his affidavit of having coffee with the former president and gifting him with Royce chocolates along with his delivery of cash.

And that’s how the cookie crumbles. PRRD is allergic to chocolate. He avoids it like the plague.

Gracioso tried to impress on the public that he rubbed elbows with Duterte, that the latter would drop his work to sip coffee with him. What hogwash.

I personally attended events where the President was a guest, even from the time he was a mayor for 23 years. Many times I was the moderator of his press conferences. Never was Duterte seen sipping coffee. When served a cup, he would politely decline and ask instead for a can of Coke Zero or plain water. And mind you, he can gulp down two or more cans of Coke Zero in one sitting.

True to his being a police character, Gracioso posted on Facebook what he described as “resibo,” street lingo for evidence. Among these was a photo of himself with VP Sara and a group. Some netizens who had the same photo noticed that what he posted had been edited.

Gracioso also haughtily declared he delivered billions in cash to PRRD and VP Sara in suitcases, apparently to predate the scandalous delivery of kickbacks from ghost flood control projects and budget insertions under the present dispensation. To back up his claim, he moreover posted his “resibo” on FB showing stacks of boxes.

So there goes the twist and the cover-up.

He also claimed he made deliveries in three vans to Davao City in 2021 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. He must have used duck boats to do that. Ferry services, including flights, were suspended by Surigao del Norte Governor Francisco Matugas at the time.

Gracioso’s testimony is full of holes, contains many contradictions, and cannot withstand scrutiny.

While NBI director Matibag says this police scalawag passed a lie detector test, it does not necessarily follow that what he was telling was the gospel truth. His notoriety preceded him.