Why Most Corrupt or Accused-of-Corruption Politicians Gravitate Toward Sara Duterte: An Observation

When corrupt politicians find themselves cornered, they look for shelter. In today’s political landscape, that shelter often leads to one name—Sara Duterte. This piece dissects how figures accused of graft and abuse of funds keep orbiting her circle, drawn not by ideology but by protection, influence, and survival. It follows the trail of alliances, scandals, and unspoken deals that turn loyalty into currency.

19 min read

Watch Philippine politics long enough and you start noticing patterns that stop feeling coincidental. Lately, one has become impossible to ignore: politicians accused of corruption or with a history of shady dealings keep moving closer to Sara Duterte

I began following this trail when the flood control scandal broke in late July. Marcos ordered an audit in his State of the Nation Address, and within weeks, the story began to unravel—ghost projects, ₱118.5 billion possibly stolen, contractors and lawmakers working together.

By October 28, the Independent Commission for Infrastructure had already recommended charges against Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva, along with several former House members and DPWH officials.

Greenpeace Philippines estimated that since 2023, as much as ₱1.089 trillion in climate-tagged funds may have been lost to corruption.

What stood out wasn’t just the scale of the mess but the familiar faces surfacing around it—the same names often seen within Sara Duterte’s circle.

Even as she faced her own controversy over ₱612.5 million in confidential funds, many of those implicated in the flood control scandal were rallying behind her. The alliances forming in the middle of these parallel controversies say more about political survival than coincidence.

The Protection Ecosystem

Sara Duterte isn’t just the Vice President or the daughter of a former president. She’s now at the center of what looks and functions like a protection network disguised as political alliance. The people around her tell the story better than any press statement.

Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada were both detained during the Aquino years for the ₱10-billion pork barrel scam. Both faced plunder charges. When Rodrigo Duterte became president, they walked free. Then came 2019: Sara’s regional party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago, endorsed them for the Senate race even after her father objected. They won. Revilla was acquitted but ordered to return ₱124.5 million, which remains unpaid. Estrada was cleared of plunder but convicted of bribery. Both are back in office, proving that in Philippine politics, survival often depends on staying inside the right circle.

Fast forward to October 2025. The Independent Commission for Infrastructure once again named Estrada in its report—this time for the flood control kickback scheme. Villanueva was listed too. Both had recently won reelection under the DuterTen slate, the opposition coalition Sara backed after her fallout with Marcos. The message is hard to miss: those who align with her continue to land on their feet.

They don’t gather around her because of shared ideals or vision. They stay close because she offers something far more valuable in this political climate: protection, and the kind of reach that can quiet storms before they hit.

The Ombudsman Factor

One clear piece in this system is the Ombudsman’s office. When Rodrigo Duterte appointed Samuel Martires to the post, it quietly reshaped how accountability worked.

Martires had been a Sandiganbayan justice, then a Supreme Court associate justice. He once cleared Duterte in a Davao City corruption case, long before joining Malacañang’s orbit. As Ombudsman, his policies began to change the tone of the institution. He limited public access to officials’ wealth records, cut transparency rules, and even pushed penalties for those who “malign” government officials over their statements of assets.

Critics saw him as a shield for the powerful. He cleared Duterte in the Pharmally scandal despite Senate findings of irregularities. Other investigations quietly disappeared or reversed without explanation. Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla later questioned why Martires reversed dismissal orders without making them public.

When the country’s top watchdog behaves like a gatekeeper, the powerful know where to run for cover. The Duterte bloc became that refuge. And even after Martires stepped down, the pattern of protection didn’t fade. On October 26, his explanations about withholding Ombudsman decisions were still being disputed. The system he shaped continues to work as designed.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s Role

The partnership between Sara Duterte and former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came from experience—and the will to survive.

Arroyo, once detained for plunder over the Malampaya fund, knows what it’s like to lose control of the narrative and fight her way back. Sara, meanwhile, carries the Duterte name and commands a loyal base that can swing elections. Together, they built an alliance that works because both understand how power protects those who know how to use it.

Their connection goes back years. In 2018, they joined forces to remove then–House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez after Sara publicly turned against him. When Sara later joined Lakas-CMD, Arroyo became co-chairperson of the party. And when the confidential funds issue broke out, Arroyo reached out to help—but it was Sara who assured her mentor that she could handle the pressure.

Their bond is anchored on shared resilience. Arroyo has lived through political storms. Sara is now learning how to outlast hers.

The Pork Barrel Alumni

Pantaleon Alvarez is a familiar name in this web of alliances. After Sara helped remove him as Speaker in 2018, he eventually found his way back into her orbit. When impeachment complaints were filed against her in early 2025, Alvarez resurfaced—not as a critic, but as an ally—by filing cases against House leaders on her behalf. He understood how costly it was to stand against the Dutertes and decided it was safer to stand beside them.

Rodante Marcoleta followed a similar path. Once one of Duterte’s most loyal defenders in Congress, he lost his committee posts when the Marcos–Duterte alliance collapsed. But by May 2025, he had secured a Senate seat under the DuterTen coalition and quickly returned to form. In the October flood control hearings, he grilled witnesses and redirected blame, shielding Sara’s circle from scrutiny.

These men have learned the same lesson: in Philippine politics, survival often depends on allegiance. And for now, aligning with Sara Duterte means protection, visibility, and a ticket to stay relevant.

The Controversial Cronies

The circle around Sara Duterte stretches beyond politicians. It includes figures whose names have long been tied to scandal, people who’ve tested the limits of loyalty and influence.

Apollo Quiboloy, wanted by U.S. authorities for sex trafficking and child abuse, remains one of the Duterte family’s closest allies. When the crackdown against him began in 2024, Sara defended him publicly, calling it a matter of “freedom of religion.” A few months later, in September, she apologized to his followers for asking them to support Marcos in 2022. By 2025, when both Quiboloy and her father were facing separate legal battles, she spoke about sharing “the same fate.”

Harry Roque, once Duterte’s spokesperson, faces his own corruption issues tied to illegal POGO operations—particularly the Lucky South 99 case. The House issued an arrest order after he refused to explain his sudden wealth. He vanished for months. Yet when Rodrigo Duterte appeared before the International Criminal Court in March 2025, Roque was right there with Sara and Senator Robin Padilla, presenting himself as part of Duterte’s legal team. In June, Sara even expressed sadness over what she called the “political persecution” of Roque.

Then there’s Michael Yang, Duterte’s former economic adviser. His company won ₱8.68 billion in allegedly overpriced COVID contracts despite having only ₱625,000 in capital. His relatives were linked to both Pharmally and illegal POGO hubs. Through all this, Rodrigo defended him, and Yang remained untouchable—another figure quietly protected by the same network now orbiting Sara.

Taken together, these names show how the boundaries of loyalty keep expanding. Politics, business, religion—it’s all part of the same ecosystem that thrives on protection and shared interest.

The Senate as Shield and the May 2025 Turning Point

The 2025 midterm elections showed how sturdy Sara Duterte’s network still is. Despite corruption cases surrounding her circle, DuterTen candidates did better than many expected. Bong Go and Bato dela Rosa won reelection. Rodante Marcoleta took a Senate seat. None of them ran as reformists. They ran as loyalists to the Duterte brand.

Her influence held. In October, Pulse Asia’s Ronald Holmes noted that her trust and approval ratings were unchanged from March 2025. The timing worked in her favor: the flood control scandal drew attention away from her ₱612.5 million confidential funds issue. Against a ₱118.5 billion corruption story, her own controversy faded into the background.

Bato dela Rosa stood as her loudest defender. He filed motions to dismiss her impeachment and circulated AI-generated videos portraying her as the victim. When the confidential funds issue surfaced, he said there was “no proof of corruption.” His loyalty speaks for itself.

In August 2025, the Senate—then led by Francis Escudero—voted 19–4 to archive the impeachment articles against Sara Duterte, effectively stopping the process. A month later, in September 2025, Tito Sotto replaced Escudero as Senate President and spoke about strengthening accountability in the chamber. But the crucial decision had already been made. The move to protect Sara was finalized before Sotto even assumed the position.

Today, the Senate serves as both a shield and a stage. Loyalty is rewarded. Scrutiny is timed. And Sara’s 2028 path remains wide open.

Why Now: The Perfect Storm

October 2025 brought together everything Sara Duterte needed to regain control of her image. The Supreme Court’s decision in July halted her impeachment trial until February 2026, giving her time to regroup. Then the flood control scandal broke, swallowing headlines and redirecting public anger toward another set of officials.

The timing worked in her favor. Martin Romualdez—her rival and cousin of President Marcos—was suddenly under fire for alleged kickbacks from flood control projects and illegal gambling operations. On September 28, Sara accused him of receiving money deliveries packed in suitcases, adding fuel to the investigation already circling his name. While the scandal deepened, her own controversy over confidential funds faded into the background.

The sequence looked deliberate. With her impeachment frozen and the next elections just three years away, she used the chaos to reposition herself as the voice of opposition. Her approval numbers stayed solid. WR Numero’s December 2023 survey had already placed her ahead at 36 percent, far above her closest rivals. Despite a 10-point dip nationwide and a 13-point drop in Mindanao by late 2024, her base remained intact.

Corruption scandals often destroy careers. In Sara Duterte’s case, they’ve created a storm she has learned to work her way through, turning crisis after crisis into another display of endurance.

The Voter Question: Why Do They Keep Winning?

The real mystery isn’t just why politicians like Sara Duterte stay in power—it’s why voters keep putting them there.

The patron-client system runs deep in Philippine politics. Around 40 percent of poor Filipinos say they’ve witnessed vote-buying in their communities, and roughly 20 percent admit to taking part. But money alone doesn’t explain it. At the center of this cycle is utang na loob—that deep sense of debt when a politician offers help, no matter how small. A 2020 Ateneo study found that many voters feel obliged to support candidates who once assisted them, even when those same officials perform poorly in office.

Patronage doesn’t stop on election day. It continues through programs like 4Ps and AICS, which often coincide with campaign periods. It thrives on promises of jobs, favors, or medical assistance. For families barely making ends meet, elections become one of the few moments when help feels tangible, even if it’s temporary. Governance becomes personal, not institutional.

Sara Duterte knows this dynamic well. The political machinery her father built in Davao now stretches across Mindanao and parts of Visayas. These networks rely on favors, family ties, and shared need. For many local leaders, siding with her means access to funding, protection, and continuity.

It’s a system built on survival—one that trades public accountability for private comfort, and keeps the same names in power.

The Money Trail: How Confidential Funds Bind Loyalty

Confidential funds are the quiet currency of influence. Under a 2015 joint circular, they’re meant for surveillance, intelligence work, and informant payments. They aren’t subject to the usual auditing process, which makes them easy to move and difficult to trace.

The Office of the Vice President had none under Leni Robredo in 2021. That changed when Sara Duterte took office. She requested ₱500 million for 2023. In December 2022, President Marcos transferred more funds to her office—money not even listed in the approved budget. By 2024, her confidential funds had grown to ₱612.5 million. Former Senate President Franklin Drilon said those transfers broke budget rules.

The House Blue Ribbon Committee found that her office spent ₱125 million in just 11 days in December 2022. No clear accounting followed, and witnesses contradicted her statements. Yet Sara showed no concern. That confidence comes from the kind of system these funds sustain. They don’t just finance operations—they bind loyalty.

Because these allocations are hidden from scrutiny, they can be passed to allies, used as rewards, or redirected toward campaign needs. Whoever controls them holds the leverage.

For a time, House Speaker Martin Romualdez played a key role in approving those allocations. When their alliance collapsed, Sara went on the offensive, accusing him of the same corruption he once helped her defend against. In this kind of politics, alliances last only until the money runs out.

The Regional Power Base That Makes This All Work

Sara Duterte’s strength comes from where she stands. Mindanao has always been her foundation—a region long treated as an afterthought by “imperial Manila.” The Dutertes turned that resentment into political fuel, building an image that spoke for the South against the country’s traditional centers of influence.

That dynamic still shapes elections. In 2022, Bongbong Marcos’ numbers in Mindanao were staggering—73 percent in Central Mindanao and 69 percent in Northern Mindanao—largely because Sara was on the ticket. Her endorsement carried the UniTeam campaign across the finish line. Without her, those margins wouldn’t have existed.

Politicians understand that math. To win the presidency, you need Mindanao. And to get Mindanao, you need the Dutertes.

Despite the controversies, DuterTen candidates still performed well in May 2025. Religious blocs like Iglesia ni Cristo remained loyal, organizing a massive “peace rally” in January 2025 to oppose her impeachment. Those groups don’t just bring crowds—they deliver votes.

Sara’s hold endures because it taps into something deeper than politics. For many in the South, she represents familiarity and pride, a reminder that someone from their island can still dictate the terms in Manila.

What I’ve Seen Happen

I started noticing the shift around mid-2024, when the alliance between Marcos and Duterte began to fall apart. Sara resigned as Education Secretary in June. By September, she was already expressing regret for supporting Marcos. Two months later, in November, she went live on Facebook, threatening the President, the First Lady, and Martin Romualdez. The impeachment complaint followed in December.

What caught my attention was how quickly her circle responded. Bato dela Rosa, Bong Go, and Robin Padilla immediately went on defense, attacking her critics and questioning the investigation’s motives. Even Harry Roque, who had gone silent while facing arrest orders tied to illegal POGO operations, reappeared at The Hague with her and other allies. Apollo Quiboloy’s followers continued to rally behind her despite his criminal cases abroad. The network moved like muscle memory—swift, familiar, and precise.

Then the flood control scandal broke in July 2025. Instead of playing defense, Sara took the offensive, accusing Romualdez and the Marcos camp of corruption far larger than what she was facing. The numbers alone flipped the story. ₱118.5 billion allegedly stolen in flood control projects dwarfed her ₱612.5 million issue. Pulse Asia’s later data confirmed what many already sensed: public attention had shifted, and her ratings had stabilized.

That’s when it became clear to me—Sara wasn’t scrambling to survive. She knew exactly how to play the storm, turning each blow into another display of control.

What Happens Next: Three Scenarios

Right now, everything sits in limbo. Sara’s impeachment remains frozen until February 2026 after the Supreme Court’s ruling in July 2025. The House filed a motion for reconsideration, but the Senate has already archived the case while waiting for the Court’s decision. Meanwhile, the flood control investigations continue to expand, targeting her political rivals while leaving her untouched.

Scenario one: Sara runs for president in 2028 and wins. Every politician who stood beside her gets their reward. Old cases are dismissed, friendly appointees take over key agencies, and the same machinery of protection becomes government policy. The network survives, only with bigger budgets and more reach.

Scenario two: the impeachment is revived, she’s convicted, and barred from running in 2028. Her allies scatter. Some cut deals with whoever emerges as the new frontrunner. Others face prosecution without cover. The network fractures but doesn’t disappear. The Duterte family still holds the structure in Mindanao, waiting for its next chance to rebuild.

Scenario three: she runs in 2028 but loses. That’s when things could turn messy. The next administration might reopen the cases tied to flood control projects, POGOs, and confidential funds. Or it might not—depending on who benefits from keeping the old arrangements in place.

Of the three, the first feels most likely. Sara’s machinery is intact, her base loyal, and her rivals divided. Unless something drastic happens—a conviction that sticks, a collapse in ratings, or a united opposition—she remains the frontrunner for 2028. Those betting on her survival know exactly what they’re doing.

The System That Sustains This

The cycle keeps feeding itself. Poverty forces people to depend on politicians for short-term relief. That dependence turns into loyalty. Loyalty delivers votes. Votes translate to influence, which then opens the door to public funds that keep the same system alive.

Confidential funds fit perfectly into that loop. They’re hidden from scrutiny, free from normal audit rules, and easily used to buy loyalty or silence. The Office of the President has its own pool of confidential funds, far larger than the Vice President’s, and both remain off-limits to full public accounting. These allocations are justified as security measures, but in practice, they serve whoever holds the position.

Institutions meant to stop corruption often play along. The Ombudsman protects allies and delays cases. The Commission on Audit struggles to access records buried under “confidential” classifications. Even the Sandiganbayan, tasked with prosecuting graft, moves at a pace that guarantees forgetfulness. On October 24, it acquitted Juan Ponce Enrile, Janet Napoles, and others in the remaining pork barrel graft cases. Enrile is 100 years old. Accountability didn’t outlive him.

The Senate’s flood control hearings have the same script—noise, outrage, and eventually, silence. The Independent Commission for Infrastructure recommended charges on October 28, but what happens next will likely follow the pattern. Cases get filed. Investigations drag on. Evidence disappears. The public moves on.

This is how the system survives: by exhausting everyone who tries to challenge it. It feeds on repetition, distraction, and delay, while those in charge keep getting reelected.

The Bottom Line

Politicians gather around Sara Duterte because she represents stability in a system that rewards survival over reform. She has the machinery to win elections, a following that doesn’t demand explanations, and a record of sidestepping scandals that would’ve ended other careers. Her allies understand that. To them, she’s insurance.

For those facing investigations, it’s a simple calculation: stay close, stay safe. Align with Sara, and you get access to her network, her reach, and the protection that comes with her name. Cross her, and you risk isolation—and prosecution without backup.

The flood control scandal showed how deep corruption runs in Philippine politics. Over a trillion pesos could be gone, yet the conversation has already started to fade. While others drown in controversy, Sara remains visible, turning each crisis into another step toward 2028.

The pattern is clear. Until institutions regain independence and voters stop treating politics as personal debt, nothing changes. The faces will. The party names will. But the system—the trade of loyalty for safety—will keep going. And as always, the cost won’t be paid by those at the top. It’ll be paid by the people funding it.