WHILE an administration-captive mainstream media has struggled to focus national attention on the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte, the issue is an inarguable dud, with only the weird Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, and not even “administration” senators — if there are any — pushing for it.

It is only the political pygmies like the communist-led party-list reps and those of “Pink” Akbayan and, small-time congressmen like Manila Rep. Joel Chua and Lanao Rep. Zia Aidong think this dead duck can still fly.

And we don’t have to discuss the implications of the fact that Sara has filed a case to stop the impeachment at the Supreme Court, 12 of whose 15 members were appointed by her father.

Senators, of course, are political creatures, and they read the recent survey by the up-and-coming pollster WR Numero Uno that 5 out of 10 Filipinos don’t want the impeachment, and only 3 out of 10 support it.

Combine that with the same pollster’s report that Marcos’ “performance assessment” has plunged precipitously 15 points to 30 percent. Sara’s performance rating, on the other hand, dipped by only 6 percent to 41 percent, now in effect having much more political support than the dictator’s son. Who’d want to be involved in a Marcos project against the more popular vice president? Rep. Alexander Marcos, the president’s son, should ask his guards to shoot whoever put his name at the head of the purported 215 representatives wanting Sara impeached. He has politically condemned his name, that he better seek a different career.

In contrast to the frivolous and even hilarious complaints against her (“she has an attitude problem”), the case against House Speaker Martin Romualdez and his alleged accomplices — even if seemingly boring (“falsification of public documents”) — will be as politically explosive as it is an open and shut case. Why wouldn’t it be? The allegations are based on documents from the Congress and the Office of the President.

The P241-billion budget fraud case was filed by a former House speaker, Pantaleon Alvarez, top-notch lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, Citizens’ Crime Watch and several others. Alvarez would know when a budget is illegally tampered with, as he had been speaker before.

In a 29-page pleading, Alvarez accused Romualdez and his closest House allies of inserting unauthorized allocations into the 2025 General Appropriations Act — turning what were once blank line items into multi-billion-peso windfalls that lawmakers never debated nor approved.

Multiple

Alvarez isn’t just throwing wild allegations; he’s invoking multiple counts of falsification of legislative documents. Other than Romualdez, he has named House majority leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, former appropriations chairman Zaldy Co, and acting appropriations chairperson Stella Quimbo as co-conspirators in an audacious hijacking of Congress’ power of the purse.

Legislators were shown the report of the bicameral conference committee (the joint House and Senate, the body authorized to integrate the two chambers’ budget proposals) which was riddled with suspiciously empty — as in blank — appropriations slots. By the time the president was set to sign it, the blanks had been filled up with amounts from P80 to P90 million each, totaling P241 billion. Only the speaker could have filled up those blanks and sent the appropriations bill to the president for approval.

Such blatant tampering of the bill that allocates how people’s money are to be used, shocked even the business community, that one of its most prominent leaders, Ramon del Rosario Jr., in a meeting of the Financial Executives Institute, veered away from his prepared speech “on the business environment” to point out:

“In this black hole called the bicameral [conference] committee, what happened was our esteemed legislators transferred huge amounts of funds from what are ordinarily identified as high-priority projects of our national government, underfunded them, and diverted funds from these projects towards a bunch of what they call public works projects that are scattered all over their districts,” he said. These were funds easily diverted to corrupt legislators.

Winds

Romualdez apparently threw caution to the winds, or is so convinced of his unstoppable political power that he undertook such blatant violation of budget formulation. He was also rushing to secure the funds to give to House members for them to impeach Sara. Indeed, several congressmen disclosed that aside from the P50 million ayuda (dole-out funds) promised to them, the speaker or his minions told them they would get P100 million in public works funds for their districts.

Alvarez wants the Ombudsman to suspend Romualdez and his co-accused, warning that they could easily intimidate witnesses, misplace documents, or block any probe while holding on to their powerful positions. This is textbook procedure to prevent high-ranking officials from stonewalling investigations.

This allegations against Romualdez do more than expose the usual pork barrel chicanery; it undermines the basic principle that Congress should have absolute control over the nation’s purse. The brazen nature of these insertions — zero pesos one day, billions the next — makes a mockery of accountability. Some lawmakers argue it’s all part of “collective responsibility,” but that’s a thin excuse for a potential criminal enterprise involving stolen taxpayers’ money.

If the Ombudsman finds the charges against the speaker and his minions valid, he will ask the Sandiganbayan special anti-graft court to hear the case. If the Sandiganbayan convicts Romualdez, the court can impose penalties such as imprisonment, fines and disqualification from holding public office (under the Revised Penal Code and RA 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act).

Conviction

A conviction that includes “perpetual disqualification from public office” would legally bar the speaker from continuing in office. The House, however, must act to declare the position vacant, and elect his replacement.

Even before the Sandiganbayan starts the trial, the Ombudsman’s findings that Romualdez is guilty of tampering with the budget, mean he is finished, so much damaged goods that his cousin will ask his minions in House to remove him immediately.

The House won’t even wait for Marcos’ orders. As Romualdez’s conviction by the Ombudsman would be a seismic shift, that would be the start of Marcos’ fall, perhaps in people-power mode if the president tries to stop it.

What are the prospects of the Ombudsman Martires siding with Romualdez for a “hundred million reasons”? Zero.

Retirement

Martires was appointed as Sandiganbayan associate justice by President Arroyo in 2005, and after that Supreme Court associate justice by President Duterte in 2017, and upon his retirement from the high court as Ombudsman in 2018. Martires is known to be religious, with several of his relatives being Benedictine priests. I don’t think he’ll want to pass through the pearly gates after having received bribes. I don’t know.

But there’s a hitch. Romualdez could go scot-free if Martires ends his seven-year term on July 26, 2025, without referring the case to the Sandiganbayan. Marcos would likely appoint a new Ombudsman, from whom I bet he would extract a promise to dismiss his cousin’s case. In that case, for the new Ombudsman, it will probably be as if he won the lotto.

If Martires works feverishly in his remaining three months in office to recommend charges against Romualdez in the Sandiganbayan, he will be a hero of the Republic.

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