MCT DAILY BRIEF

DOJ FILED A GRAVE THREATS CASE AGAINST VICE PRESIDENT SARA DUTERTE

The Department of Justice filed one count of grave threats against Vice President Sara Duterte with the Office of the Clerk of Court of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court on Tuesday. The charge was filed under Article 282 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act. The DOJ said bail was set at ₱120,000.

The case arose from Duterte’s online press briefing in November 2024. She said that she had instructed someone to kill President Marcos, the First Lady and Martin Romualdez if an alleged plot against her succeeded. Duterte later said her remarks had been taken out of context and were not a threat.

DOJ prosecutors said the evidence met the standard required to bring the grave-threats accusation to court. They dismissed the separate complaint for inciting to sedition because they found insufficient evidence to indict her on that charge.

A prosecutor’s decision to file a case is not a finding of guilt. Duterte remains presumed innocent. Her lawyers also argue that a sitting impeachable official cannot be prosecuted for an act that is already part of an impeachment case. The DOJ says the criminal prosecution and impeachment trial may proceed separately. That dispute will now have to be resolved by the court.

For ordinary citizens, the immediate issue is whether the same criminal process applies when the accused is the country’s second-highest official. The public should be able to see the court address the evidence and the defense arguments through regular proceedings, without political privilege and without treating an accusation as a conviction.

COA NAMED DUTERTE AND TWO FORMER OVP OFFICIALS LIABLE FOR ₱73.287 MILLION IN DISALLOWED SPENDING

Commission on Audit supervising auditor Xylene Mae del Campo told the Senate impeachment court that Vice President Duterte, former special disbursing officer Gina Acosta and former OVP chief accountant Julieta Villadelrey were held liable for ₱73.287 million in disallowed confidential-fund spending. The amount came from the ₱125 million released to the Office of the Vice President in December 2022 and spent from December 21 to 31. COA disallowed ₱69.787 million in reported reward payments because the submitted records did not sufficiently show successful information-gathering or surveillance work. It also disallowed ₱3.5 million spent on tables, chairs, computers and printers because the OVP did not show that the purchases were for confidential operations or submit the required sales invoices and official receipts.

Del Campo said the agency head is responsible for how confidential funds are used. Duterte’s defense has sought to place responsibility on the special disbursing officer. The audit notice named all three officials.

The audit process is not finished. COA’s Commission Proper affirmed the disallowance on April 10, 2026, and the OVP filed a motion for reconsideration in May. That motion remains pending. A notice of disallowance can lead to the return of public money if it becomes final. It is an audit finding, not a criminal conviction, and does not by itself prove that an official stole the funds.

For taxpayers, the question is basic: can the government show what the money bought, who received it and what public purpose was completed? Confidentiality can protect operational details. It cannot replace the internal documents that auditors need to verify that hundreds of millions of pesos were legally spent.

STORMS AND MONSOON RAINS LEFT MILLIONS AFFECTED AS THE DEATH COUNT ROSE

Government agencies reported rising casualties from Typhoons Luis and Maymay and the southwest monsoon. The Office of Civil Defense reported 20 deaths, four missing people and 15 injured as of Tuesday afternoon. A later Philippine National Police report counted 26 deaths and said its figures were still subject to validation by disaster agencies.

The difference between the two totals reflects reporting time and validation. It should not be presented as a settled national count until the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council completes its checks.

The reports also used different snapshots for the number of people affected. The OCD counted about 2.8 million people, while a separate NDRRMC figure cited about 2.27 million. Tens of thousands remained in evacuation centers, and many more were displaced outside official evacuation sites. Landslides, flooding, power interruptions and blocked roads continued to disrupt several regions.

The casualty list captures only part of the damage. A flooded home can mean lost appliances, school materials and identification papers. A day without work means lost income. Farmers and small vendors may lose crops, stock and customers while still paying for food, medicine, transport and repairs. The announced value of relief does not tell families when food, clean water, medicine and shelter will actually reach them.

THE PROPOSED 2027 BUDGET SETS ASIDE ₱107.4 BILLION FOR FLOOD CONTROL

The proposed 2027 national budget includes ₱107.4 billion for flood-control projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways. The allocation is intended for maintenance, repair, rehabilitation and improvement of existing facilities. It includes ₱19.6 billion for continuing foreign-assisted projects. A separate ₱3.41 billion is proposed for the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s pumping stations and other flood-control facilities.

It is still a very large claim on public money, especially after investigations and allegations involving ghost and anomalous projects.

The Department of Budget and Management says proposed projects had to include tagged locations and actual work programs before being placed in the National Expenditure Program. It also says fund releases will be available through its COMPASS system, while DPWH implementation will be tracked through a transparency portal. Project DIME is supposed to use satellite data and other technology to check whether reported construction exists on the ground.

These controls sound useful, but a database is only as reliable as the records entered and the action taken when the records do not match reality. Congress must still examine whether each project is needed, properly designed, ready for construction and located in an area where it can reduce flood risk.

For households, the practical measure is not the size of the budget. It is whether floodwater becomes shallower, drains faster and reaches fewer homes, roads, schools and businesses. Every project should have a public location, cost, contractor, schedule, physical target and inspection result that citizens can understand.

THE SUPREME COURT SAID ILLEGALLY DISMISSED WORKERS KEEP THEIR SSS ENTITLEMENT FOR THE BACKWAGE PERIOD

The Supreme Court upheld a ruling that Lopez Sugar Corporation must remit Social Security System contributions for four workers covering the period included in their backwage award. The workers had already won an illegal-dismissal case that awarded reinstatement and full backwages, although separation pay was later given in place of actual reinstatement. The company argued that no contributions were due for the period when the workers did not physically report for work. The Court rejected that position. When dismissal is legally found to be illegal and backwages are awarded, the employment relationship is treated as having continued during that period. The employer must therefore pay the contributions tied to those wages.

The ruling also upheld the penalty applied to the historical delinquency in the case. The old Social Security Act imposed three percent per month. The current Social Security Act reduced the rate to two percent per month, so the older figure should not be read as the penalty for new delinquencies today.

The decision does not automatically grant contributions to everyone who contests a dismissal. A worker must first establish through the proper labor process that the dismissal was illegal and obtain the corresponding relief. Once that judgment is final, the employer cannot treat the backwage period as a blank space in the employee’s SSS record.

For workers, missing contribution records can complicate or delay benefit claims and leave retirement records incomplete. The SSS can still pursue a delinquent employer, and employees remain entitled to protection under the law. Backwages replace lost salary, while restoring the contribution record preserves the months and amounts that should have been credited to the member.