'Drugs, POGOs funded Sara's 2022 campaign'

Drug dealers and Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) funded Vice President Sara Duterte's campaign in 2022, a former aide said in a sworn affidavit.

- By BELLA CARIASO

A report published by Politiko online news said that based on a sworn affidavit of former Duterte aide Ramil Lagunoy Madriaga, drug dealers and POGOs sent large amounts of cash to Inday Sara Duterte Is My President (ISIP) movement, which he reportedly helped organize with her former classmates in San Sebastian College of Law, where Madriaga is also said to have graduated.

Duterte was mayor of Davao City when ISIP was organized.

Madriaga's lawyer Raymund Palad told "Storycon" on One News yesterday that the aide resented being arrested and detained for kidnapping, in a complaint filed by a client of former presidential spokesman Harry Roque.

Palad said they vetted Madriaga's allegations before taking him on as client.

"The funding for the ISIP Pilipinas national campaign (2021-2022), along with other parallel groups, came from POGO operators and drug dealers," Madriaga said in his affidavit.

He said the group was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as ISIP Pilipinas, and became a national support network for Duterte's original presidential bid, with him serving as national convenor.

Madriaga said the group initially received funding from then mayor Sara Duterte and other allied support groups.