Karapatan renewed its call to put Sara Duterte on trial to hold her accountable for her misuse of hundreds of millions of pesos in Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIF).
The refusal of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his lieutenants to go ahead with Sara Duterte’s trial is rooted in their fear of losing their opportunity to dip their dirty fingers into their CIF and use it for personal gain.
Marcos Jr. has the most to lose, being the recipient of the biggest CIF. For 2025, he received Php4.5 billion in CIF, or 44% of the total amount allocated for CIF in this year’s budget. Sara Duterte’s controversial Php612 million in CIF is not even 14% of that of Marcos Jr.
The CIF, the latest moniker for the notorious pork barrel, lies at the core of the people’s demand for accountability.
The struggle against corruption must not stop with hailing Sara Duterte to court to answer for her transgressions. It would be the height of naivete to believe that she is the only one in this current government who has stolen public funds.
The CIF, or the pork barrel in new garb, must be abolished altogether, in order to remove a major source of graft and corruption for filthy politicians, including those in the Marcos clique.