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December 24, 2025 | 12:00am
Vice President Sara Duterte faces the media at the headquarters of the Office of the Vice President, hours after holding a thanksgiving lunch with them, Dec. 11, 2024.
Philstar.com / Martin Ramos
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte visited former congressman Arnolfo Teves Jr. in October at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said yesterday.
Lawyers of Duterte’s former aide Ramil Madriaga, however, maintained that the Vice President visited him twice.
“Duterte went to the detention facility, but she spoke to Arnie Teves, not Madriaga,” Remulla said at a news briefing in Quezon City.
In a message to The STAR, law firm Palad Lauron Palad & Te said Duterte spoke with Madriaga on her first visit to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) facility.
“The most recent one, around Oct. 19, Madriaga did not go down anymore because we were preparing the affidavit. It’s the previous visit of Sara that they spoke of,” they said.
Claiming to be Duterte’s bagman, Madriaga earlier said that drug dealers and Philippine offshore gaming operators funded the Vice President’s campaign in the 2022 general elections.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government should review closed-circuit television footage or speak with former BJMP warden Jose Marie Sabeniano, Madriaga’s lawyers pointed out.
Remulla cited BJMP records as proof of Duterte’s visit on Oct. 19.
According to the law firm, Sabeniano has shown call logs indicating communication between Duterte and Madriaga.
A certain “Atty. Joyce” allegedly linked to the Vice President had also visited Madriaga, they noted.
“Not much was discussed (between Duterte and Teves). They only checked in on each other, so that was the extent of the report to me,” Remulla said.
Teves is the prime suspect in the murder of former Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo and nine others in Pamplona town in March 2023.
Madriaga’s lawyers said Duterte had told Sabeniano that she wanted to help inmates’ children for Christmas and started asking for their names.
“This does not conflict with our statement. It actually supports that Vice President Sara visited the jail,” they said.
In a written interview cited by his lawyers, Madriaga said, “She went here twice. One of those visits was late at night. The other visitors were her staff.”
