‘Fishing expedition’: Sara Duterte says plunder complaint against her weaponized for probe

MANILA (UPDATED) — Vice President Sara Duterte on Saturday morning said the plunder complaint filed against her before the Office of the Ombudsman is a “fishing expedition” weaponized “to create a semblance of procedural legitimacy for an investigation.”

“Another fishing expedition is now being launched, as they scramble to weaponize any accusation they can manufacture just to create a semblance of procedural legitimacy for an investigation,” Duterte said in a statement.

Duterte, with 15 others, is facing plunder, graft, bribery, and malversation complaints over an alleged “deliberate system” to mishandle confidential funds.

The complaint also included Office of the Vice President (OVP) Zuleika Lopez and former Department of Education undersecretary Michael Poa.

In the plunder complaint, complainants brought up acknowledgement receipts with allegedly fictitious names like “Mary Grace Piattos,” which supposedly showed the transfer of “significant amounts of public money without lawful justification.”

The vice president said the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability also launched a “full-blown fishing expedition” last year. 

This was when a series of complaints was filed, still due to her alleged misuse of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF).

The House of Representatives acted on the fourth complaint, which eventually led the lower chamber into impeaching her in February 2025.

Duterte, as she previously claimed, said “signatures for my impeachment were being courted in exchange for budget allocations.”

“Several lawmakers themselves recently confirmed how the constitutional process was being cheapened and reduced to a marketplace,” she said.

Before this, progressive and civil society groups announced their plan to file a fresh impeachment complaint against Duterte, after the one-year ban expires February next year.

Amid the political turmoil, Duterte called on the public to remain critical and not be swayed by the negative propaganda.

"Hindi ito tungkol sa paghahanap ng katotohanan — ito ay tungkol sa pagtakip ng nakawan sa kaban ng bayan na hanggang ngayon ay walang nananagot," she said.

The Vice President said despite this, her office would continue their work in delivering efficient and responsive public service to Filipinos. 

For its part, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP) said it viewed the complaint “with both alarm and amusement” because the allegations were “the same rehashed and recycled fabrications since several years back.”  -- with a report from Job Manahan, ABS-CBN News

RELATED VIDEO: