VP Sara’s lie shows

By Herbert Vego

WHO is lying? Vice President Sara Duterte, or Ramil Madriaga? This is the only question that this column will comment on.

“I don’t know him,” said VP Sara of the man who claims to have served as her bagman and political leader in 2022 when she was running for her present post, teaming up with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos.

Alas, her lie is impossible to sustain vis-à-vis the revealing statements of Madriaga during his appearance before the House justice committee on Tuesday, April 14.

Ramil Madriaga’s posts online – which now also resonate in streamline media — support his claim that he was the founder and head of “Inday Sara Is My President” (ISIP), one of her campaign organizations during the run-up to the 2022 presidential election.

Why the acronym ISIP?

Madriaga said VP Sara Duterte had intended to run for president with funds coming from POGO operators and Pharmally’s big bosses Lin Wei Xiong  and Yang Jianxin..

But this plan was later altered in favor of a 2025 “takeover strategy” that would allow her to assume the presidency by hook or by crook, and run for president in 2028

About ISIP, while there is no public record of its ID-bearing members, Madriaga has pictures revealing their conferences and birthday parties with VP Sara during the campaign period. One video shows him greeting, “Happy birthday, Sir Ram.” How could ISIP members accept her denial of their relationship?

This denial, an obvious lie, makes her unworthy of her followers’ loyalty. Somehow, some of them would eventually surface to side with Madriaga in public fora.

Thus, I bet she would henceforth refrain from denying her happy days with Madriaga, but rather worry about his damning allegations, such as misuse of PHP 125 million in confidential funds within 24 hours, not 11 days as previously revealed by critics; and involvement of her husband, Manases Carpio, in the entry of magnetic lifters containing shabu at the Bureau of Customs.

-oOo-

ILECO’S SOUND OF SILENCE

WE have yet to hear an official from the Iloilo I Electric Cooperative Inc. (ILECO 1) comment on the action of the House of Representatives, passing Rep. Janette Garin’s House Bill 7647 aimed at granting MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) the franchise to expand electricity distribution to the 1st District of Iloilo?

The bill has already been elevated and heard at the Senate for corresponding action prior to final approval by President Marcos.

The “no comment” reaction of the ILECO 1 board of directors reminds us of the saying, “Silence means yes,” indicating conformity.

My hunch is that our friends at the ILECO 1 board of directors do not really welcome competition, since it would certainly erode their already thinning number of customers. Given the opportunity, they would rather partner with MORE Power to boost their profitability.

This was also the opinion I gathered from a chat with my friend Leopoldo “Doods” Moragas of Miag-ao, Iloilo. A retired senior vice-president of the Philippine National Bank (PNB), he now lives comfortably in Seattle, Washington with wifey Heidy and son Leopoldo “Ajin” Jr.

Let’s recall how the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) in Bacolod City saved itself from bankruptcy – saddled with PHP 600 million in debt — by teaming up with Primelectric (holding firm behind MORE Power), out of which emerged Negros Electric and Power Corp. (NEPC or Negros Power) in 2024.

As an immediate result of that partnership, Negros Power has grown by leaps and bounds, starting from 177,737 customers in August 2024 to almost 300,000 today.