ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Palace: Marcos not aware of VP Sara's alleged deals with POGO, drug lords

Palace: Marcos not aware of VP Sara's alleged deals with POGO, drug lords

Published Dec 16, 2025 05:55 pm
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte (MANILA BULLETIN/Mark Balmores)
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte (MANILA BULLETIN/Mark Balmores)
Despite being runningmates in the 2022 national elections, President Marcos has no knowledge of the alleged transactions of Vice President Sara Duterte with drug dealers and Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO).
Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said Marcos has nothing to say about the recent allegations made by former Duterte aide Ramil Lagunoy Madriaga against the Vice President.
"Wala pong personal na knowledge ang Pangulo patungkol sa anumang maaaring naging transaksiyon ng Bise Presidente sa mga POGO operators or sa drug lords. Wala po siyang masasabi patungkol po doon (The President has no personal knowledge about the possible transactions of the Vice President with POGO operators or drug lords. The President has nothing to say about that)," Castro said in a Palace briefing on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
Marcos and Duterte were runningmates under the political alliance UniTeam Coalition, championing unity during the 2022 polls.
Their alliance started falling out when the Vice President resigned from her position in the Cabinet as secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) in June last 2024. She later bared that her reason for stepping down from the Marcos Cabinet was a mix of personal and professional issues.
Since then, both sides have been exchanging tirades.
Castro also said that the plunder and graft complaints against Duterte, which could be a basis for a new impeachment complaint once the one year bar lapses, is not something that concerns Marcos at the moment.
However, the Palace official stressed that the President's position on those who must be held accountable remains.
"Sa ngayon, hindi pa po nagiging isyu sa Pangulo ang impeachment laban po sa Bise Presidente. Pero ang Pangulo po kasi sinabi na noon pa, kung dapat managot ay dapat panagutin; wala dapat sinisino. So, in general, lahat ng maaaring may kasalanan ay dapat lamang managot sa batas (At present, an impeachment against the Vice President has not yet become an issue for the President. However, the President has long said that if someone should be held accountable, then they should be held accountable; no one should be given special treatment. So, in general, anyone who may have committed wrongdoing should be held accountable under the law)," Castro said.
She also emphasized that whatever evidence provided against any public official should be validated.
"Kung sinuman ang makakapagbigay ng anumang ebidensiya laban sa sinumang public servant at ito’y may patungkol sa anomalya, paglulustay, pagnanakaw ng pondo ng bayan, dapat lamang pong maimbestigahan, siguraduhin lamang po na ito ay hindi pamumulitika. Kailangang managot ang dapat managot (Whoever can provide any evidence against any public servant, if it concerns anomalies, misuse, or theft of public funds, should indeed be investigated—provided that it is not politically motivated. Those who should be held accountable must be held accountable)," Castro said.
On Tuesday, Madriaga, the alleged “bagman” of the Vice President, submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman his affidavit that detailed his allegations that Duterte's 2022 campaign funds came from drug dealers and from the now banned POGOs.

Related Tags

President Marcos Sara Duterte POGO Ramil Madriaga
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.