Theatrics of the Bizarre

By Artchil B. Fernandez

Sara Duterte has talent in the theatrics of the bizarre. Calling a press conference at two o’clock in the morning accompanied by a meltdown has redefined political theatrics. Only a person of Sara Duterte’s caliber can accomplish this.

What triggered Sara Duterte’s latest performative political act is the detention of her chief of staff, Office of the Vice President (OVP) Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez. The House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability cited her in contempt and ordered her detention for “undue interference in proceedings.” This is in connection with the ongoing probe of the House into the confidential funds of the OVP.

The House is investigating how the OVP spent its confidential funds in the last two years. What prompted the House to cite Lopez in contempt and detain her is her letter to the Commission on Audit (COA) dated Aug. 21, 2024, asking the agency to ignore and not comply with the House’s subpoena duces tecum demanding that the agency turn over documents related to the PHP 125-million confidential funds that the OVP spent in just 11 days in December 2022.

Upon learning of the detention of her chief of staff, Sara Duterte rushed to the House to be with her beleaguered assistant. She vowed to stay there indefinitely if necessary and barricaded herself in the office of her brother, Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte. To force her out of the House, the leadership of Congress ordered the transfer of Lopez to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City. It is at this point where things took a bizarre turn. Sara Duterte held a press conference and blocked the transfer.

Held via Zoom, the online wee-hour press conference saw Sara Duterte unhinged and appearing to have suffered a meltdown. Asked by a Diehard Duterte Supporters (DDS) vlogger to confirm the existence of the so-called Operation Romanov, an alleged plot to “wipe out” the Duterte family, the vice president assured the vlogger she already made arrangements if harmed. “I have talked to a person. I said, if I get killed, go kill BBM (Marcos), (first lady) Liza Araneta, and (Speaker) Martin Romualdez. No joke. No joke. I’ve already made arrangements, Ma’am. I said, ‘If I die, do not stop until you kill them,’ and then he said yes.’”

Words uttered by Sara Duterte during the creepy press conference were incendiary and provocative. She later walked back her statements, saying they were taken out of their logical context. The threat was a “plan without flesh,” she added. Her ally Bato de la Rosa called it a “conditional threat” that has no value.

But the administration dismissed her excuse. “Acting on the Vice President’s clear and unequivocal statement that she had contracted an assassin to kill the President if an alleged plot against her succeeds, the Executive Secretary has referred this active threat to the Presidential Security Command for immediate proper action,” the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said. National Security Adviser Eduardo Año declared that “any and all threats against the life of the President shall be validated and considered a matter of national security.”

Many are baffled by the latest antics of Sara Duterte. How she could be reckless and careless in her latest national tantrum, people wondered. While her recent breakdown may look and sound crazy, there is rationality behind it. It was not a random, spur-of-the-moment act by the vice president but a calibrated move.

The weird theatrics of Sara Duterte are merely a decoy designed to draw away public attention from the interesting things the House probe on the use of her confidential funds uncovered. The House investigation revealed questionable acknowledgment receipts (ARs) for confidential fund expenditures.

It was found by the House that a certain Kokoy Villamin received two confidential fund (CF) ARs — one for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and one for the Department of Education (DepEd). In the two different CF ARs, the signatures of this person are different.

Another signatory of several acknowledgment receipts (ARs) for the OVP’s expenditures involving confidential fund usage is Mary Grace Piattos. Lawmakers doubted her existence, leading them to suspect many of the names who received the confidential funds of the OVP could be fake persons.

House investigators unearthed intriguing things about the ARs of the OVP on the confidential funds. “We saw so many acknowledgment receipts that were without dates, some had signatures without written names. There were others without signatures. Some had wrong dates, it did not correspond to the dates when the funds were released,” Taguig 2nd District Rep. Amparo Maria Zamora pointed out.

It seems the House investigation of Sara Duterte’s use of her confidential funds as vice president and DepEd secretary had touched raw nerves. The detention of her chief of staff is related to the usage of the controversial funds. The House digging is yielding incriminating evidence, and to stave off the investigation, Sara Duterte has to create a smokescreen, a diversion. Her antics not only paused the House probe but drew national attention away from it. Now everybody is talking about her bizarre theatrics.

But Sara Duterte’s diversionary tactic could have backfired and even put her in deeper trouble. The administration called off her bluff, seriously took her “conditional threat” by mobilizing the security apparatus of the state to investigate her. Criminal cases related to the theatrics of the bizarre could be filed against the vice president. A possible impeachment is also looming. The House is still pushing its probe on her use of the confidential funds.

By escalating their conflict with House Marcos, House Duterte may have crossed a red line and triggered a retaliation that could end with their political decapitation.