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Composite image: Alleged bagman Ramil Madriaga and Vice President Sara Duterte
The STAR, file / Philstar.com composite
MANILA, Philippines — From his detention at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, a request has been made to have Ramil Madriaga – an alleged former bagman of Vice President Sara Duterte – transferred to the custody of a congressional committee to ensure his “safety and availability” when he gets summoned to testify in her impeachment case.
Akbayan Rep. Chel Diokno made the request in a March 5 letter addressed to committee on justice chairperson Gerville Luistro of Batangas. The request was made immediately after the panel found the impeachment complaints filed by Fr. Joel Saballa and lawyer Nathaniel Cabrera “sufficient in form and substance.”
The committee is expected to discuss Diokno’s request next week. Madriaga earlier claimed there had been an attempt on his life in detention.
In the same letter, Diokno urged the committee to immediately compel concerned parties to produce records necessary “to fulfill its mandate of evaluating the evidence in order to decide if sufficient grounds for impeachment exist.”
“To achieve this mandate and facilitate the proceedings, I respectfully move that subpoena duces tecum be issued” on certain documents, Diokno said.
Among the documents being sought are duly certified true copies of Duterte’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth for the years 2022 to 2025, 2007 to 2013 and 2016 to 2022, to be provided by the Office of the Ombudsman, covering “the time she first entered public service until the present.”
Diokno asked the Anti-Money Laundering Council to submit a certification under oath on the existence of any records involving suspicious transactions linked to Duterte, including accounts in her name and her husband Manases Reyes Carpio’s, as well as other accounts with her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.
He sought records from the National Bureau of Investigation of its probe into death threats made by Duterte against President Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos and former speaker Rep. Martin Romualdez.
Diokno’s motions, as indicated in his letter, were seconded by Reps. Leila de Lima of Mamamayang Liberal party-list, Percival Cendaña of Akbayan party-list and Kaka Bag-ao of Dinagat Island.
Duterte’s camp, meanwhile, said it has no problem with Diokno’s request. “If transferring his custody to the House of Representatives ensures that, then we welcome the move,” lawyer Paolo Panelo said. He added Duterte herself wants Madriaga alive and well “so he can testify and reveal himself to the world as a fraud.”
Madriaga earlier said drug dealers and offshore gaming operators bankrolled Duterte’s campaign in 2022.
Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro refuted claims by the Vice President and Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte that Filipinos were enraged by the arrest and turnover of their father to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Sen. Bong Go said the day of Duterte’s turnover to the ICC “was one of the saddest days in our history.”
“Exactly today, March 11, 2025. It was a day when emotions ran high across our country. A day when millions watched in disbelief as the former president was taken and brought to The Hague,” he said. — Bella Cariaso, Alexis Romero
