House Minority Leader and Caloocan City 2nd District Rep. Edgar “Egay” Erice said he suspects that allies of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. used public funds to incentivize politicians to oppose Vice President Sara Duterte, framing the claim as his personal assessment during a DZRH News interview on December 13.
Erice said that public funds were used as “incentives” in what he described as an effort to weaken the Vice President politically and elevate then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez ahead of the 2028 presidential elections, a strategy he said that had ultimately backfired.
“Sa aking hinala, ang tingin ko, gustong pabagsakin ng ilan sa mga kasama, allies ng Pangulo si Vice President Sara. Ang pondo ng bayan ay ginamit to incentivize politicians to go against Vice President Sara. Siguro, nagkamali ng kunsinte ang ganitong sistema,” the House minority leader said.
“Ginamit ito para pabagsakin si VP Sara at iangat si Speaker Martin Romualdez for the 2028 presidential elections. Nag-boomerang, nakita naman natin. Nagamit din ito for 3 years for the 2025 national and local elections,” he said.
Erice cited reports involving the House’s Quad Committee—composed of the Committees on Dangerous Drugs, Public Order and Safety, Human Rights, and Public Accounts—claiming that participants in efforts to discredit Duterte received substantial funding.
“Nakita naman natin, ang QuadComm, nabalitaan naman natin, malalaki ang pondo ng mga nakuha ng participants sa pagpapabagsak, sa effort na pabagsakin si Vice President Sara,” he added.
According to Erice, the alleged campaign later expanded into widespread budget insertions and programs he described as questionable, arguing that these practices became normalized across Congress.
The House minority leader also alleged that social assistance programs such as AKAP, AICS, and TUPAD were used for patronage politics during the 2025 national and local elections, saying the funding levels were unprecedented in his five terms in Congress.
“Dito nagsimula, at pagkatapos, nag-enjoy na siguro ang lahat, lahat ay meron nang insertions, lahat ay may mga programa na questionable na naipasok sa budget,” Erice said. “Nakita natin kung paano ginamit ang mga AKAP, AICS at TUPAD para sa elections. Patronage politics para sa mga congressman.”
He said the scale of the alleged wrongdoing left only two possibilities in his view: either the President was complicit or failed to exercise sufficient oversight, emphasizing that this was his opinion.
“Sabi ko nga, dalawang bagay lang, itong nangyaring pinakamalaking korapsyon na ito ay either kasabwat si Pangulo o talaga namang napabayaan ng Pangulo,” the lawmaker lamented.
While stressing that he was not declaring Vice President Duterte free of wrongdoing, Erice argued that any investigation should have been pursued “honorably,” rather than through what he described as the use of state power and public money.
“Hindi ko po sinasabi na walang pagkakasala si Vice President Sara, kaya lang po, sa halip na ito ay tugisin nang marangal, ang nangyari po ay talaga namang ginamit yung kapangyarihan at salapi ng bayan para siya tugisin sa halip na tugisin ng marangal,” he said.
On corruption levels, Erice pointed to flood control projects over the past three years, alleging ₱1.45 trillion in insertions, diversions, and amendments, which he described as the largest in the country’s history.
“Sa flood control projects, for the last three years, ‘yan ang pinakamalaki sa kasaysayan ng ating bansa. P1.45 trillion ang insertions, diversions and amendments na karamihan ay pinagpyestahan ng mga pulitiko. Dati, kung minsan ang korapsyon ay concentrated in some sectors, ngayon widespread, within the whole government,” the House minority leader said.
“Maikukumpara ko siguro ito sa administrasyon ng kanyang ama na nakita naman natin, kaya naman tumagal, kasi martial law. Naging systemic ang corruption noong martial law. Naging systemic din doon sa last 3 years ng Marcos Jr. administration ang corruption,” he lamented.
Erice also said corruption, which he said was once sector-specific, had become widespread across government under the last three years of the Marcos Jr. administration, while noting that similar schemes existed under former President Rodrigo Duterte but were, in his view, more “tightly controlled.”
“Although I would admit na marami sa mga schemes ng corruption sa flood control ay nakita natin doon sa Pangulong Duterte, pero noon ay kontrolado ni Pangulong Duterte, ang kanyang budget ay hindi gaanong nababago. Hindi katulad ngayon na talaga namang pinagpyestahan ng pulitiko ang Philippine budget for three years,” he said.
