RISA TO SARA ON P125M SPENT IN 11 DAYS: "SAAN NIYO DINALA ANG PERA"

 

The title above is the recent Inquirer headline that tells of Senator Risa Hontiveros chiding Vice President Sara Duterte after it was revealed that her office spent its confidential allocation of P125 million in just 11 days.

“Anong uri na naman ng magic ang ginamit nila para ubusin ang P125M sa loob ng 11 araw?” Hontiveros asked. “Hindi  lang yan spending spree. Yan ay paglapastangan sa mamamayan.”

(What kind of magic did they employ to use P125 million in just 11 days? That’s not a spending spree. That is an insult to the people.)

“Babalik lang tayo sa paulit-ulit na tanong: Saan niyo dinala ang pera? Naghihintay ng resibo ang buong Pilipinas,” Hontiveros asserted.

(Again, we ask the same question: where did you take the money? The Filipino people are waiting for your receipt.)

Speaking of “spending spree”, I thought the unthinkable phrase “P125 Million spent in 11 days” would sound clearer if we illustrate it using a more understandable hypothetical scenario. Just for kicks, I prompted Bing, my AI-powered co-pilot, to play the spendthrift role, and we put together the following list of a prodigal spending spree.

Day 1: Buy a luxury car, a Bentley Flying Spur 2023 for P40M.

Day 2: Buy for her Neige Hermes Faubourg Birkin bag for P20M.

Day 3-5: Book a presidential suite at the Shangri-La Makati for P600K per night for 3 nights. Go on a shopping spree for his Armani suit for P200K and kids’ iPhone 15 Pro Max, MacBook Pro, and Sony Play Station 5.

Day 6: Hire a private yacht for P100K per hour for a day cruise.

Day 7-9: Fly to Banwa Private Island Resort in Palawan for a blowout with friends for P5M minimum per night for 3 nights.

Day 10: Fly back to Manila to buy Amorsolo painting for P10M.

Day 11: Buy a condo for what remains of P125M.

On the flip side, I prompted Bing to play the philanthropic role, and it suggested the following humanitarian acts.

Day 1-11: Donate P11M daily up to 10^th day and P15M on the 11^th day to various local charities:  from UNICEF Philippines to help provide health, nutrition, education, protection, and emergency assistance to millions of Filipino children in need, to Mental Health PH that aims to end the stigma and discrimination against mental health conditions.

Bursting the bubble and going back to the real world, let’s get to the bottom of Sen. Hontiveros’ question: “Saan niyo dinala ang pera?” In justifying her confidential and intelligence funds, VP Sara herself let the cat out of the bag in invoking her well-worn mantra: “intended for the safe, secure, and successful implementation of programs, and activities and engagements of the OVP (redundant or duplication of effort Hontiveros asserted on such tasks) and all its SATELLITE OFFICES” (here’s the crux of the matter, underscoring mine).

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin in coming to the VP’s defense reiterated the same phrase “for newly created satellite offices.” Strangely enough, the significance of such a phrase was brushed off by the media.

“Satellite offices” is about politics and future elections -- the germ of which was laid bare during the final year of the Duterte presidency spelled out by the following commentary and two headlines:

“[T]he Office of the President was granted a whopping P8.182 billion budget half of which was earmarked for intelligence and confidential funds that are beyond public scrutiny. The House Appropriations Committee approved that bonanza to the big boss in three minutes flat…All that moolah for the President to spend any way he wants without accountability. Buying national elections in this country is not really that expensive. One or two billion would do.” (Chin Chin Katigbak)

“Sako ng pera” pangako ni Duterte sa PDP-Laban bets” (Philstar)

“Duterte spent P4.5B on confidential, intel funds in 2021 – COA” (CNN Philippines)

Btw, P4.5B (a billion is a number followed by 9 zeros) could build 30,000 units of standard Gawad Kalinga (GK) houses, spending over 12 million every day of the year – a little bit over his daughter’s daily spending of P11.36M (P125M spent in 11 days).

Without a doubt, the daughter – “president-in-waiting” (in Randy David’s words) has inherited such a “magic” (in Hontiveros’ words) now in the form – not of the crude vote-buying but -- of the political leading-edge Obama’s “ground game” using FIELD OFFICES.

Let me explain by sharing with you excerpts of my past ATABAY article “Confidential Intelligence Fund: Creating & Investing for the Future”:

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What is a “ground game”? The US has more than 234 million eligible voters; not all are registered though. Over 159 million voted in the recent US general election. A presidential candidate can’t reach, up close and personal, all voters. Only when he or she puts into action a “ground game” setting in motion media, surrogates, volunteers, and paid staff, will he or she be able to reach voters -- convince them to vote for him or her -- and just as importantly, to convince them to get out and vote.

Raved over by both the mainstream media and political scientists, Obama’s “ground game” in his presidential run flexed its muscle through its numerical advantage in laying down FIELD OFFICES. It set up 947 (vs. less than 400 for John McCain in 2008) field offices mostly in “battleground” or “swing” states (refer to states that could be won by either Democratic or Republican candidate). Obama’s re-election campaign put in place 789 (vs. 284 for Mitt Romney in 2012) field offices.

A US study explored the impact of field offices on election results for the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns and came up with a key finding implication – a decentralized campaign with widespread field offices is a cut above a concentrated campaign focusing its firepower only on strategically selected areas.

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Here’s the recent headline: “10 government agencies may lose secret funds” (Inquirer) That’s good news. “If the confidential funds will be truly reduced, then this will be an unprecedented move,” House Deputy Minority Leader Rep. France Castro said. The move includes the P650M confidential funds under VP Sara Duterte’s control.

One takeaway. If the above headline is ultimately carried off, such an “unprecedented move” may not be due to the “invalid” transfer of the controversial funds from the Office of the President to OVP being “unconstitutional but not impeachable” (in Lagman’s words, whatever that means).

But thanks to the “tambaloslos” (in VP Sara’s words) factor which could be the driving clout behind such an "unprecedented move" having deemed that the impact of such a "move” could be deeply consequential to the 2028 presidential battle royal.

Content put together in collaboration with Microsoft Bing AI-powered co-pilot

Head collage photos courtesy of Inquirer

Video clips courtesy of YouTube