WELCOME TO THE BLOODBATH

10 June 2025

WELCOME TO THE BLOODBATH

Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts and grab your popcorn. So this, perhaps, is the infamous bloodbath Vice President Inday Sara Duterte warned us about - not with actual blood or violence, but of venomous rhetoric. 🍿👩‍🦰

If an impeachment trial were held today, one could easily imagine the scene: two distinguished legal minds called to the stand- not to accuse, but to clarify the rules of a game that’s long been murky.

On one side is retired COMELEC and COA Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, who, ever the firebrand, declared the rules for liquidating confidential funds as “problematic talaga!” Her concern? A lack of clarity and transparency - a long-standing grey area in government budgeting. To her credit, she raised a valid point...a better-defined rules could help avoid political grandstanding in the future.

According to her, there is a rule - often overlooked but codified in COA Circular No. 2015-01, issued January 8, 2015. The circular provides specific guidelines for the use and liquidation of confidential and intelligence funds. Among the requirements: all liquidation reports must be submitted in sealed envelopes, directly to the COA, along with certifications that the funds were used for their intended lawful purpose.

This procedure is, by design, discreet. The sealed-envelope requirement exists not to shield wrongdoers but to protect sensitive operations and ongoing investigations. After all, as any security analyst will attest, confidentiality is not synonymous with corruption - it is often the shield that makes covert action effective.

Enter Ombudsman Samuel Martires, calmly echoing this operational logic. In a congressional hearing in September 2023, he remarked: “I don’t think a receipt is important... What is needed is a certification.” He wasn't dismissing oversight - he was recognizing the practical limitations of documenting expenses tied to intelligence activities.

So while critics hammer on the issue of transparency, the defense from VP Sara's camp is straightforward: the Vice President followed the law. She operated within the framework outlined by the 2015 COA circular - no more, no less.

Let’s be honest: If there’s a trial today, it’s less about justice and more about scoring political points. And while critics sharpen their rhetoric, the Vice President walks away - not just acquitted but vindicated. Her enemies? The very congressmen who once puffed their chests and invoked the Constitution - stand drenched not in victory, but in the metaphorical blood of their own credibility.

This isn’t the downfall her enemies predicted. It’s just another day in the political arena, where rules are bent, but courage is rare - and VP Sara, for better or worse, still holds the line.

Let the bloodbath continue. 👊

#ProtectTheVP