In the minds of its troll battalions, Duterte corruption does not exist. Any talk or simply asking valid questions about Duterte corruption is met with harassment,threats and bullying on social media. Duterte Diehard Supporters frame such inquiries as betrayal against their ruling family rather than a legitimate public accountability inquiry.
It is a Duterte trait not to admit wrongdoing. Back in 2025, political scientist Cleve Arguelles, president and CEO of public research firm WR Numero, explained the pattern: if you accuse a Duterte of corruption, they hit back by accusing the accuser of corruption.
“By weaponizing the controversy, the Dutertes can position themselves as the voice of accountability, even if their own record on corruption is far from clean,” said Arguelles.
The now classic example is Paolo Duterte. During the Wuhan Virus pandemic, Paolo was said to have received a massive concentration of infrastructure funds. The amount was shockingly staggering – ₱51 billion – because it was far higher than what most other congressional districts received.
Under whose presidency did it happen? Search me please.
The confirmation came through the late public works undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral. Interpellated in the House, Cabral admitted that Paolo “received ₱51 billion in infrastructure funds in the last three years of the administration of his father, then President Rodrigo Duterte.”
And then the Duterte pattern was actualized. Paolo hit back, saying that lawmakers were only diverting the issue on flood control corruption. He offered no receipts and no accomplishment reports, certainly not an invitation to have himself investigated. He failed to come clean. Yet no DDS trolls vilified him. Instead, Paolo Duterte is exonerated.
What is the miracle formula for the canonization of the Dutertes by their DDS followers? Trolls use his statements as mesmerizing Bible truths.
“I would not be president if I were corrupt” (November 2021). The context? He was admonishing lawmakers for looking into his government’s transactions during the Red China Virus pandemic.
“Maybe other things may be said about me, but not money” (November 2021). He was insisting in a speech that he was not involved in corruption. All politicians say that. But no that wasn’t the gist. The remarks, made during a “Talk to the People” address, were particularly directed at two senators, Dick Gordon and Frank Drilon, whom he accused of corruption. The pattern is predictably consistent.
In July 2021, Duterte challenged critics to show that he stole even one Peso in corruption. Duterte said he would resign if there was evidence. But nobody shows evidence under bullying conditions, not to mention troll onslaught. Only Antonio Trillanes and Leila de Lima have ever did.
April 2019, only two years into his term, the issue of his family’s wealth appeared. How did he parry himself? He said family wealth was “none of your business,” after reports regarding the increasing net worth of his family, including Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio. He stated, “What we earn outside of government service is none of your business actually.”
This was echoed by Sara in April 2019: “I am under no obligation to explain the sixfold increase of my wealth.” Elsewhere in the world where citizenship advocacy is strong, such bluster would have been rebuked.
The Sara impeachment procedure has commenced. What can we expect from Sara? Why, nothing but finger-pointing weapons.
One development thwarts the Duterte pattern. The Commission on Audit has now obligated her to return 73,287,000 of her confidential funds. There is only one meaning to that: fund misuse.
Remember Rodrigo Duterte’s criminal statement? Push COA auditors down the stairs, or have them kidnapped, tortured.
Hoodlums have no love for accountability, but of course.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.
