An explosive, riveting trial

The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte begins Monday, July 6, 2026. It will last from two to three months, probably much shorter, with 153 witnesses – 57 for the prosecution, 96 for the defense. At one witness per day and three hearings per week, expect 51 days, less than two months of court battles.

Sara Duterte’s trial will be explosive, riveting, bitter and for a people suffering from the highest prices of food, fuel and other prime consumer items and the lowest quality of public servants in terms of their indolence, indifference, impunity and record thievery, three days of courtroom drama weekly will be draining – emotionally, mentally, physically and politically. It will divide the nation and scar us forever. This is thus the trial of the century.

A saving grace is that as in a Greek tragedy, we undergo a catharsis, a purgation of emotions so that we can punish an astonishing symbol of abuse, corruption and impunity and rid it from our system forever.

Sara is not the only one on trial. On trial too is the Duterte brand, today the biggest, the most entrenched and the most controversial political brand. On trial too is our system of checks and balances, our governance, our democracy.

Sara’s conviction means the end of decades of the Duterte dynasty in Davao and everywhere. On trial too are the vested interests backing up the brand – Duterte’s Davao clan and mafia, the Davao Death Squads, the Apollo Quiboloys of this heathen world, the Iglesia ni Cristo, unsavory politicians like Imee Marcos, Alan Peter Cayetano and Rodante Marcoleta.

Why did INC try to stage a three-day protest rally at the People Power monument in Quezon City? It was not to stop Marcoleta’s impending arrest for plunder. A public official, he allegedly pocketed P75 million. Ganun lang. Plunder is a series of acts involving the taking, by a public official, of money, public or private. The INC show of force June 30 was meant to warn the Senate impeachment court trying Sara to be – careful, careful, you don’t know what you are getting into. In law, it’s called mob rule or anarchy. In our rambunctious governance, it’s called democrazy.

VP Sara is the first vice president to be impeached by the House of Representatives. She is also the first VP to be impeached twice. Two hundred fifteen congressmen signed the first impeachment; 257 signed the second, the one that goes to trial before the 24-member Senate with two absentee senators.

One of the absentees, Bato dela Rosa, is in hiding, a fugitive from justice. He is wanted in The Hague for being a co-conspirator in the murder of from 6,200 to 30,000 innocent civilians during Rodrigo Duterte’s violent war on drugs against innocent civilians, during his time as Davao mayor and during his six-year presidency, June 30, 2016-June 30, 2022.

The other senator, Jinggoy Estrada, is in jail for two cases of graft and one case of plunder. Plunder is non-bailable. This is the third time the actor-politician is jailed for plunder. The first was in 2001 to 2003, two years; the second, in 2014 to 2017, three years. He was cleared of the first plunder charge in 2007. He was cleared of the second plunder charge in 2017, on the ground of reasonable doubt. For the third time with plunder, Jinggoy, thanks to his imaginative lawyers and the juices of justice, will probably be cleared again, on reasonable doubt. Erap’s son has spent a quarter century fighting the image of being the poster boy of plunder, the legal equivalent of being a three-peat champion in big time corruption.

The evidence against Sara is compelling and credible. The pieces of evidence speak for themselves. The witnesses too are credible. They are pros.

Pros too are the people behind Sara’s alleged crimes. She contracted killers to kill the President, the First Lady, and the former speaker of the House of Representatives. If you are hired to kill the president, you must be a pro. Because how often does one get hired to kill the commander-in-chief?

Sara also threatened to dig up remains of the late president Ferdinand E. Marcos from his Libingan ng mga Bayani grave and throw them into the West Philippine Sea. To execute that, you must hire professional grave diggers and veteran boat men to venture into the rough waters of WPS. Add a professional priest to say the final prayers as the remains of the country’s longest serving president meet their watery grave.

There are four Articles of Impeachment against Sara. Shorn of legal gobbledygook, the four are:

1) She pocketed at least P612.5 million of taxpayers’ money and faked receipts on how she spent it. That’s plunder. Who the hell are Mary Grace Piattos, Milky Secuya and Koko Villamin?

2) She amassed unexplained wealth far beyond her salary as a public official. From 2006 to 2024, transactions in her bank accounts jointly with husband Manases Carpio, totalled P6.77 billion – P4.425 billion inflow, P1.554 billion outflow and P791 million undetermined amounts. She is a billionaire. Sara has been vice mayor for three years, mayor for nine years and VP for four years – 16 years. Her annual income did not exceed P4 million, 4x16 is P64 million. Yet, P6.77 billion passed through her bank accounts. The difference is unexplained wealth. In law, it’s graft.

3) She bribed people and subalterns as education secretary (maybe, she was teaching them math?) and VP (tips for running errands for her?). That’s bribery.

4) Threats and destabilization.

On nationwide television on Nov. 23, 2024 and Nov. 26, 2024, Sara threatened to kill President Bongbong Marcos Jr., First Lady Louise Araneta Marcos and former Speaker Martin Romualdez by contracting their killers. No joke. No joke.

On nationwide TV on Oct. 18, 2024, Sara imagined herself cutting off the head of BBM. On nationwide TV on July 11, 2024, she refused to attend BBM’s SONA and instead declared herself the “designated survivor.”

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