Alleged oust Marcos plot bared in Madriaga's letter

Former president Rodrigo Duterte allegedly had plans to remove President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. from his post in 2025 to give the position to his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, according to the handwritten letter of Ramil Madriaga, a confessed bagman of the vice president.

In Tina Panganiban Perez’s Monday report on “24 Oras,” GMA News has acquired the letter from a reliable source from Madriaga’s camp, which has his signature and was dated April 11, 2026.

In the letter, Madriaga identified the elder Duterte as FPRRD.

In November 2021, the former president allegedly told Madriaga that Marcos would be allowed to run for president alongside Sara.

However, they would only use Marcos as a political tool and take the presidency by 2025 to extend the elder Duterte’s control of the Philippine government.

After Sara took her oath of office in 2022, the former president said during another meeting with Madriaga and several retired generals that he planned to remove Marcos from office by any means.

Sara would then assume the presidency, and she could still run in the 2028 presidential elections.

Madriaga’s letter also stated that Marcos knew that he would step down from office in 2025 to hand it over to Sara.

It further stated that before Marcos was ousted, there would be mass resignations among government officials, widespread rallies, assassinations of government officials, civil disobedience, and an attack on Malacañang carried out by the groups and individuals they had mobilized.

Madriaga’s assignment would be to recruit these groups and individuals, including criminals and syndicates, and once chaos breaks out, this would supposedly pave the way for the military to carry out a coup d’etat.

Marcos will then be assassinated if he refuses to step down or be exiled to the United States.

GMA News is reaching out to the Vice President for comment on the matter.

The House impeachment hearing is set on Tuesday, where Madriaga will face the lawmakers’ clarificatory questions.

“If it is irrelevant to the accusations against the Vice President, particularly sa misuse of confidential funds, tingin ko hindi yan maisasama doon sa mga puwede pang pag-usapan. Mahalaga po na we remain focused on the specific allegations relating to the impeachable offences against the VP. Pag hindi ito within that parameter, hindi po dapat talakayin ng Committee,” Bicol Saro Partylist Rep. Terry Ridon said.

(If it is irrelevant to the accusations against the Vice President, particularly the alleged misuse of confidential funds, I think it will not be included in the discussion. It is important to remain focused on the specific allegations relating to the impeachable offenses against the Vice President. If it is not within that parameter, the Committee should not discuss it.)

The National Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology earlier conducted an inspection at the House of Representatives as preparation for ensuring Madriaga’s security.

Lawyer Manases Carpio, husband of the Vice President, has asked the Quezon City Regional Trial Court to prevent the House committee on justice from obtaining and disclosing their income tax returns (ITRs), citing violation of the privacy law and their rights.

In response, Ridon said, “Hindi po itotoo kasi ITRs or public documents kailangan makita kung may unexplained wealth ang ating pangalawang Pangulo.)

(That is not true because ITRs are public documents that need to be reviewed to determine whether our Vice President has unexplained wealth.)

'Weakest link'

Meanwhile, House Deputy Minority Leader Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers party-list questioned the vice president's camp's move before the SC to stop the impeachment hearing.

“The Vice President’s camp said Madriga is weak, the weakest link, even. Bakit tumakbo sila sa SC para pigilan ang hearing na ito?,” Tinio told reporters.

(Then why did they even ask the Supreme Court to stop the hearing?)

Tinio was referring to the petition for certiorari filed by the Vice President asking the Supreme Court to stop the House justice panel from conducting impeachment proceedings against her.

Tinio, however, argued that the Constitution clearly provides that “the House of Representatives shall have the exclusive power to initiate all cases of impeachment.”

“It was clear what Madriaga said as to the possibility of why the P125 million in confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President was disbursed in 11 days. The mandate of the House justice panel is precisely that: to scrutinize the affidavit of Madriaga and see if it has basis,” he said.

“Instead of discrediting Madriaga, this is their chance to question him and show that his statements have no basis. This impeachment hearing is the venue for that,” he added. — Mariel Celine Serquiña/LDF, GMA News