GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
VP Sara sued for plunder, malversation, graft over alleged misuse of confi, public funds
Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV and the civil society group The Silent Majority on Wednesday filed plunder, malversation and graft complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte before the Ombudsman's office over alleged misuse of billions worth of confidential funds and other public funds.
The complaint covers the Vice President's actions from when she was still a vice mayor then mayor of her hometown Davao City and later as vice president and education secretary.
Ex-Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, The Silent Majority file plunder, malversation & graft complaints vs VP Sara Duterte before the Ombudsman over alleged misuse of tens of billions of confidential & other public funds as Davao City vice mayor, mayor, VP & Education chief @gmanews pic.twitter.com/gzDJuk5ZoZ
— Llanesca T. Panti (@llanescajourno) January 21, 2026
The allegations stated in the complaint include:
- plunder and malversation of at least P650 million confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd);
- plunder and malversation of P2.7 billion of Davao City’s confidential funds during her term as mayor;
- graft and malversation of P8 billion worth of overpriced laptops during her term as DepEd secretary;
- graft and gross incompetence over Notice of Disallowance issued by the Commission on Audit covering P12 billion of DepEd funds during the Vice President’s term as Education chief;
- graft due to the P7 billion unliquidated cash advances during her term as DepEd secretary;
- graft and gross incompetence over the construction of 192 out of target 6,000 classrooms;
- accumulation of ill-gotten wealth and non-declaration in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) of more than P2 billion of deposits and other assets;
- bribery and corruption due to receiving money from a drug lord several times during her term as Davao City mayor; and
- being unfit to hold public office and betrayal of public trust due to the two incidents of public meltdown while threatening to kill President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.
“The principle of holding the highest officers of the land, including the President and the Vice President, to the highest possible standards is of imperative necessity. It is obvious that Respondent’s actions, and those of her family members, if shown to be true, are clearly incompatible with allowing her to continue holding the Office of the Vice President of the Republic,” the complaint read.
"This is about accountability," Trillanes told reporters after filing the complaint.
The complaint also cited that the Vice President should not get away with her repeated refusal to explain how her office spent public funds, including confidential funds.
“Instead of taking the opportunity to explain how she handled the confidential funds entrusted to her Office, Respondent practically stonewalled all the relevant questions Members of the House of Representatives asked on how her Office spent the hundreds of millions of public funds entrusted to her Office. Worse, when some Members of the House of Representatives attempted to get the Respondent to answer questions relevant to the OVP’s budget and how it spent the hundreds of millions of public funds entrusted to her Office, Respondent resorted to reading template evasive responses, making snide remarks and resorting to ad hominem personal attacks, off-tangent jokes and generally displayed a provocative, combative and condescending demeanor towards the Members of the House of Representatives,” the complaint said.
“The arrogant, pompous and over-bearing demeanor displayed by the Respondent and her deliberate and calculated outright refusal to answer simple questions on how her Office spent public funds clearly runs counter to the system of checks and balances written into our fundamental law, with the Congress being entrusted the power to enact laws and appropriate public funds and exercise oversight functions, the Executive being given the power to execute and implement our laws, and the Judiciary being granted the power to interpret our laws and settle justiciable controversies,” the complaint added.
Trillanes said the Vice President’s high popularity makes the filing of the complaints extremely necessary because such public approval is built on lies.
“Ang primary reason kung bakit popular pa rin siya ay dahil hindi kilalang lubusan ng mga Pilipino 'yung tunay na pagkatao ni Sara Duterte. Dahil talagang binabaha nila ng fake news at mga trolls nila 'yung social media na naging pangunahing source ng information ng mga kababayan natin,” Trillanes pointed out.
(The primary reason for her popularity is because the Filipino people do not know her real character amid fake news and trolls littered over social media spaces where the public get their information.)
“At ito nga, isang paraan ito na para ma-expose 'yung iba't-ibang insidente ng pangungurakot at iba pang anomalya na ginawa ni [Vice President] Sara at hopefully mamulat sila. At kahit relatively more popular siya, but compared noong unang [mga taon niya bilang Bise Presidente] na walang mga ganitong lumabas na anomalya, bumaba na rin ang kanyang mga numero,” Trillanes added.
(This action of filing complaints against her is our way to expose her corruption and other anomalies and hopefully, they will be able to see her for who she really is. And if I may add, her numbers now are lower than the earlier years when she was not facing any complaint.)
GMA News Online contacted the Office of the Vice President about the matter but it has yet to issue a statement as of posting time. —with a report from Giselle Ombay/KG, GMA Integrated News
