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MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte spent P125-million confidential funds of her office in less than 24 hours, not 11 days as previously reported, her alleged former bagman Ramil Madriaga claimed yesterday.
In a sworn supplemental affidavit read during yesterday’s hearing of the House committee on justice, Madriaga disputed earlier accounts on the use of Office of the Vice President (OVP) funds, which have been under scrutiny in the impeachment proceedings against Duterte.
“A few years later, I read from several media reports that the P125-million OVP confidential funds in 2022 were reportedly utilized in just 11 days. This is wrong because I personally disposed of the money in less than 24 hours. Perhaps about 18 hours,” Madriaga said.
The P125 million in confidential funds released to the OVP in 2022 has drawn public attention after questions were raised over the speed of its utilization.
Madriaga’s supplemental affidavit offered a more compressed timeline, alleging that the funds were moved and delivered within hours through a series of coordinated cash transactions involving multiple locations and recipients.
He described in detail a December 2022 operation in which bags of cash, each allegedly containing between P30 million and P35 million, were taken from the Department of Education central office in Pasig and delivered to various destinations, including the Office of the Ombudsman in Quezon City and Laguna.
Madriaga said the deliveries were allegedly carried out under direct instructions from Duterte and involved members of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group, including Col. Dennis Nolasco and Col. Raymund Dante Lachica.
“In the morning of Dec. 20, (2022), Sara called me and she said: ‘Sir Ram, please coordinate with Col. Nolasco. We have a delivery in San Pablo, Laguna, at Nightstrip, and at the ombudsman’,” Madriaga stated in the affidavit.
He said Duterte, whom he allegedly personally met when she was still Davao City mayor, also told him “let’s make it up to them,” before sending him a text message identifying the delivery points and their corresponding contact numbers.
As per Madriaga, the cash was packed in bundles of P1,000 bills, arranged in stacks of P1 million each and sealed in transparent plastic, then transported using multiple vehicles to designated drop-off points.
Self-confessed Duterte bagman Ramil Madriaga turns emotional while reading his affidavit yesterday before the House justice committee.
“Previously and upon direct instructions of PRRD (former president Rodrigo Duterte) or Sara, I have also delivered money to (former) ombudsman Samuel Martires or (assistant special prosecutor) Atty. Ryan (Quilala), which I usually placed inside an open trunk of a designated car,” Madriaga said.
“When we arrived (at the Office of the Ombudsman), the guard gave a signal directing us to park in a specific area in the OMB parking lot. We proceeded to the specific area and parked the Red Mazda sedan where the remaining two bags of money were placed,” he said.
Madriaga said the delivery was completed using a method he described as routine.
“We left the keys on top of the left front wheel, which is our usual practice when delivering large amounts of money,” he said.
Favors
During yesterday’s justice panel hearing, Madriaga also claimed he was ordered by the Duterte family to help secure the release of Customs-confiscated equipment later found to contain P4.3 billion worth of shabu.
He said former president Duterte had instructed him to assist Manases “Mans” Carpio, the Vice President’s husband, sometime between 2017 and 2018.
Madriaga also claimed he was used several times as a “dummy” on behalf of the former president.
Betrayal
Despite allegedly doing everything the Dutertes asked of him, Madriaga said the Vice President abandoned him, particularly with the kidnapping case filed against him by former presidential spokesman Harry Roque.
Madriaga expressed deep disappointment in Roque, saying the kidnapping case was an act of revenge and one he did not deserve, as he claimed he was merely helping Bataan farmers who had been promised land by the Department of Agrarian Reform.
Madriaga further alleged that Duterte’s 2022 vice presidential campaign was bankrolled by a certain Lin Wei Xiong, whom he said was the financial officer of Pharmally, the controversial company in the middle of anomalous government contracts during the pandemic.
‘Joyce’
Madriaga also testified that sometime in October 2025, or shortly after he was arrested and detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Duterte used the alias “Joyce” so that she could talk to him by cellphone.
To further prove his personal and professional ties with the Vice President, Madriaga showed photos and videos before the House justice panel.
There was also a short video birthday greeting from the VP who called Madriaga “Sir Ram.”
COA: Return P73 million
Meanwhile, the Commission on Audit (COA) informed the House of Representatives last night that their notice of disallowance regarding Duterte’s use of P73.2-million confidential funds has reached “finality” and that the money should be returned.
“The commission proper has decided already on the appeal (of the OVP). They affirmed our disallowance,” COA auditor Gloria Camora told lawmakers.
The disallowed amount is part of the P125 million currently being probed in the House.
‘Madriaga a fraud’
Meanwhile, the Vice President’s camp belittled Madriaga’s testimony yesterday, as he failed to address “the clear and convincing evidence presented by the Vice President in the perjury complaint that proves he is a fraud.”
“Our assessment that Ramil Madriaga would be the weakest link in the impeachment case was fully vindicated today,” Duterte’s counsel Paolo Panelo said.
On the other hand, the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives said Madriaga’s supplemental affidavit is “detailed, verifiable and deeply damning.”
“If even a portion of these claims is substantiated through evidence and corroboration, the implications are grave for the integrity of public institutions and the use of state power and public funds,” it said.
Political coalition 1Sambayan has urged the Supreme Court to exercise judicial restraint and allow the impeachment proceedings to continue. — Bella Cariaso, Janvic Mateo, Mark Ernest Villeza
