Sara Duterte presidential bid

On February 18, 2026, Vice President Sara Duterte formally announced her candidacy for President in the 2028 elections.

“Mga kababayan, ibalik natin ang tapang at malasakit, para sa Diyos, para sa Bayan, at para sa bawat pamilyang Pilipino. Ako si Sara Duterte, tatakbo bilang Pangulo ng Pilipinas,” she firmly declared.

In a brief but clear statement, Sara blamed President Marcos Jr. for what she described as systemic corruption in government—from inflation, rising crime, illegal drug proliferation, and terrorism, to issues in healthcare—and she apologized for helping him win in the 2022 elections.

“I cannot kneel before every Filipino to beg for forgiveness. Instead, I offer my life, my strength, and my future in the service of our nation,” she said.

The PSEi, or Philippine Stock Exchange Index, reached a peak shortly after VP Sara’s announcement, reflecting retail and possible investor confidence.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation chief economist Michael Ricafort, representing the business sector, reacted to the announcement on the Bilyonaryo News Channel, saying: “You know, the stock market is up today, and it’s among the highest since July 25. That’s the highest in nearly seven months.”

I also hereby declare: Ako si Daniel Long, at ang aking Pangulo sa 2028 ay si Inday Sara Duterte. Ibalik natin ang tapang at malasakit para sa Diyos, para sa bayan, at para sa bawat pamilyang Pilipino. Tapusin na natin ang mga kriminal at korap.

Systemic corruption continues to ‘flood’ the people. The economy is collapsing. The streets are no longer safe. We wear our backpacks in front of our chests. We avoid walking home alone at night.

Drug pushers operate in broad daylight. Students are being openly recruited by NPA members masquerading as activists in schools. Criminal addicts have made a comeback. Heinous crimes like kidnapping, rape, and murder are silently running rampant. The phenomenon of “Young Stunna” criminal minors is taking over our cities.

This country needs a deep cleansing, and I believe that Sara Duterte — and Sara Duterte alone — can do the job. After all, she once declared that “no mercy” should be shown to criminals and terrorists.

Her Excellency is inevitable; she’s unstoppable. She is a lawyer, a public servant, a fighter, and a champion of the People. She owes nothing to anyone, not the oligarchs nor traditional politicians. Neither does she play the feminist victim card amid the attacks against her. Recently, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision (13-0) and with finality, dismissed the impeachment case against her as unconstitutional.

From the very beginning, I believed that her impeachment case was purely a politically motivated attempt to disqualify her for 2028. Respected Philippine Star columnist Jarius Bondoc, in his February 7, 2025, column, criticized the impeachment scam, stating, “The fund juggling was for impeachment payolas. Impeachment is dirty politics – blatant lying, transactional alignments, and bribery.”

FIRST TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST CORRUPTION

On September 4, 2024, almost a year before the flood control scam was fully exposed to the public, Vice President Sara Duterte said in an interview that the national budget was controlled and manipulated by only two individuals—former House Speaker Martin Romualdez and former House Appropriations Chairperson Zaldy Co.

“Ang budget ng Pilipinas ay hawak lang ng dalawang tao. Hawak lang siya ni Cong. Zaldy Co at ni Cong. Martin Romualdez. Yan ang katotohanan,” she said in the interview at the time.

Since then, Zaldy Co has been removed as Appropriations Chair, implicated in the flood control scam, fled the country, and was officially declared a “fugitive from justice” by the Sandiganbayan, Sixth Division.

Meanwhile, Martin Romualdez stepped down as House Speaker. Many Filipinos, myself included, see him as the “biggest fish” in the flood control scam and want him held accountable under the law.

More than six months after these developments, the available evidence shows that Sara Duterte has no involvement in the flood control scam. She has not been identified by any contractor as having received kickbacks or being involved in ghost projects. Records also show that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) had no insertions in the national budget. It was not she who affixed her signature to the 2025 national budget, but the President.

The same gang of crocodiles was responsible for her political persecution – they tried to impeach her, harassed her OVP staff, and filed multiple cases against her. It turns out that VP Sara was right from the beginning, and time is the ultimate truth-teller.

DATA PROVES SARA IS GEN Z’S CHOICE

Vice President Sara Duterte emerges as the most trusted and approved top government official in the country, according to the Social Weather Stations (SWS) Fourth Quarter 2025 survey.

Based on fieldwork conducted from November 24–30, 2025, and released in February 2026, President Bongbong Marcos Jr. posted a –3% net satisfaction rating and a –3% net trust rating. In contrast, Vice President Duterte recorded a strong +28% net satisfaction and a robust +31% net trust rating.

The same SWS survey shows that while Marcos registered a –8% trust rating in Metro Manila (NCR), Duterte maintained a positive +2% rating in the region.

Among younger voters like me aged 18 to 24, Duterte’s support saw a significant increase. Her net satisfaction rose from +17% in September 2025 to +49% by the end of November, marking a +32-point gain.

This trend is consistent with Pulse Asia’s Ulat ng Bayan survey (December 12–15, 2025), where Marcos recorded a –14% net trust rating, while Duterte posted a +32% net trust rating.

Duterte also leads early preferences for the 2028 presidential election, securing 33.3% support in the WR Numero Philippine Public Opinion Monitor (Issue 5, Volume 2025).

According to the same WR Numero survey on factional partisanship, conducted from November 21–28, 2025, most Filipinos identify with the Duterte camp.

The survey found that 34% of 1,412 respondents support the Dutertes, compared to 15% for the Marcos camp and 12% for the opposition.

Support is even stronger among younger voters like me, aged 30 and below, where 44% identify as pro-Duterte, compared to 5% for Marcos and 15% for opposition figures such as Leni Robredo and Risa Hontiveros.

WR Numero Research Chairman Robin Garcia also noted that around 40% of Gen Z voters like me identify as pro-Duterte, highlighting the Vice President’s strong appeal among younger demographics.

Numbers, unlike emotional noise, don’t lie. Sara is simply the choice of the Filipinos, particularly the Gen Z, for President in 2028. I go by the data, not “haka-haka”.

SARA AS THE WORKING DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SECRETARY

Vice President Sara Duterte served as Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) for two years. During her tenure, she pushed for and implemented significant systemic reforms and programs. She did what she could to uplift the country’s quality of education from a “paper-and-pencil” status.

Under her leadership, DepEd received unmodified opinions from the Commission on Audit (COA) for two consecutive years (2022 and 2023), the “highest audit rating”—a historic first— meaning a clean report. This is the same rating that former Vice President Leni Robredo received during her four years at the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

DepEd became the top-performing and most trusted government agency, with an 84% trust rating (OCTA, April 2024), showing that she was widely respected by public school teachers.

I will begin with a testimony from a Kakampink public school teacher, Cherry Milafuerte, who expressed gratitude to Sara Duterte for her achievements as Education Secretary.

Here is a shortlist of her accomplishments, based on publicly available data gathered from DepEd Year-End Reports from 2022 to 2024:

• 30 straight vacation days without work for teachers
• A new, decongested K–10 curriculum, reducing 11,000 redundant subjects to 3,664 essential ones, and introducing “Makabansa,” a subject that teaches conflict resolution, peace education, and nationalism
• The Telesafe hotline for reporting child sexual abuse
• Creation of the Learner Rights and Protection Office (LRPO)
• Decluttering of classrooms, removing non-essential decorations often paid for by teachers
• Lowering the Special Hardship Allowance cutoff, making 16,532 additional teachers eligible
• Launch of Digi-ED 2028, DepEd’s flagship digital transformation program
• Fire and flood insurance coverage for school buildings
• Establishment of DepEd’s first dedicated mental health unit
• Overtime pay, health benefits, and personal accident insurance for teachers
• Removal of unnecessary administrative tasks so teachers could focus on teaching
• “Catch-Up Fridays,” weekly sessions dedicated to reading and writing to address learning gaps caused by COVID-19 lockdowns
• Reduction of dropouts due to teenage pregnancy and early marriage by 88.85% through Alternative Delivery Modes
• Implementation of the 236,000 Christmas Trees Project, where DepEd schools planted 2 million trees in one day, certified by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)

Funnily enough, despite her absence, it seemed like 75% of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s 2024 SONA focused on achievements attributed to her tenure at DepEd. Truth be told, she was one of the few performing Cabinet officials during the first two years of the Marcos administration. Even President Marcos himself praised her work on two separate occasions, even defending her from accusations of corruption. On January 24, 2024, he said: “Daghang salamat, Vice President Inday Sara, for your stewardship of the biggest agency, with the largest constituency, and, I would say, the most difficult mandate.”

SARA AS THE WORKING VICE PRESIDENT

Sara Duterte was elected Vice President with 32 million votes (61%), the highest number in Philippine election history. She established 10 satellite offices of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) nationwide so that she would be able to fulfill her constitutional oath “to do justice to every man,” reaching as many Filipinos as possible. Contrary to the narrative that she is a chronic jet-setter to the Hague, the data actually shows that she is a working Vice President.

For Senator Loren Legarda, the social services that Sara and the OVP are extending to millions of Filipinos, especially those from marginalized sectors or the “laylayan,” are consistent, practical, useful, and truly making a difference in people’s lives.

“I recognize the Office of the Vice President’s work, headed by VP Sara Duterte, in providing social services to Filipinos through programs ranging from livelihood assistance, education support, disaster relief, and transport services. These initiatives have reached thousands of households, especially in underserved and disaster-stricken areas,” Legarda said.

The OVP under Sara Duterte has received three consecutive unqualified (unmodified) opinions from the Commission on Audit (COA) in 2022, 2023, and 2024—the “highest audit rating” a government agency can receive. This continues the good governance example set when former Vice President Leni Robredo was still at the helm and received the same rating for four consecutive years.

The OVP under VP Inday also passed the ISO 9001:2015 surveillance audit. An ISO 9001 certification means that an organization adheres to international standards for Quality Management Systems (QMS), ensuring consistent product/service quality and improved efficiency. The OVP was first certified for its QMS in 2017 under Leni Robredo.

As Vice President, her notable achievements in leading the Office of the Vice President (OVP) so far include the following (partial data from OVP Year-End Reports as of July 2025, available online):

Mag Negosyo Ta ’Day
This is my personal favorite program of the OVP under Sara, as it stays true to Confucius’ wisdom about giving a man a fish for a day versus teaching him how to fish.

• Livelihood Assistance
• 30 groups and 1,416 individuals assisted • Total beneficiaries: 1,446
• Average grant per group: ₱150,000
• Average grant per individual: ₱15,000

Libreng Sakay Program
This is my second favorite program of the OVP under Sara, as it eases commuting expenses for students like me, lessens travel time, and helps decongest traffic in Metro Manila.

• Passengers Served (2022–2024): 1,025,275
• Average cost per passenger: ₱14.33
• Deployment: 9 buses nationwide (Metro Manila, Cavite, Bacolod, Cebu, Davao)
• Daily commuter savings: ₱34 to ₱120

Disaster Relief Operations
This is a program that I personally can feel and attest to its usefulness, especially in our area, frequently flooded, as the country is visited by dozens of typhoons annually.

• 198,821 affected families reached
• 20,009 families received in-kind donations
• ₱92,139,557.03 total relief assistance distributed

• Medical and Burial Assistance (Individuals Assisted)
• Medical (2022–2024): 265,579
• Burial (2022–2024): 62,257
• Total individuals assisted: 327,836 Average assistance per individual: ₱6,128

PagbaBAGo: A Million Learners and Trees Campaign
This is my third favorite program of the OVP under Sara, as planting trees is one of the most effective ways to protect the environment and combat climate change.

• School bags distributed (2022–2025): 403,820
• Trees planted (2023–2025): 1,000,000+ in 3 years

PanSarap Project
This is another favorite program of mine from the OVP. It addresses malnutrition, targeting “bansot” learners by providing certified nutritional buns developed by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

• 14,436 learners benefited (measured after 120 days)
• 1,320,620 PanSarap buns distributed

Kalusugan Food Truck

• First responders served (2023–2025): 6,596 hot meals provided to responders and volunteers

SARA AS THE WORKING MAYOR OF DAVAO CITY

As Mayor of Davao City, Sara exemplified good governance leadership. She led the city to become the 8th richest city in the country, ranked as the 4th most competitive Highly Urbanized City, and declared debt-free in 2022—while remaining consistently among the safest and cleanest cities in Southeast Asia (#3, according to Numbeo).

She also launched the “Peace 911” initiative, which brought essential government services and infrastructure—including schools, roads, bridges, and health centers—to far-flung, NPA- affected areas such as Paquibato District. Within nine months, Paquibato was declared insurgency-free by the military. The city’s 13 barangays were also declared NPA-free two years later. Billions in confidential funds were utilized to implement the program.

The CPP-NPA-NDF has been responsible for the deaths of approximately 50,000 Filipinos, including civilians, soldiers, and police officers, through bombings, the recruitment of students, the grooming of child warriors, the use of landmines, and the extortion of so-called revolutionary taxes from the poorest communities.

THE CONFIDENTIAL AND INTELLIGENCE FUNDS

Some people believe that Vice President Sara Duterte is corrupt for utilizing ₱125 million in confidential funds in just 11 days. Some consider the use of such funds abnormal, view the short timeframe as illegal or unethical, believe that she personally pocketed the money, and therefore should be impeached.

The truth is that national government agencies—even civilian ones, such as the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and DepEd—are legally allowed to maintain confidential funds.

In 2023, the Office of the President (OP) was the top spender of confidential funds (₱2 billion versus Sara Duterte’s ₱370 million, according to COA). In the proposed 2025 national budget, the Marcos administration requested ₱10 billion in confidential and intelligence funds, while the OVP requested none.

Other agencies, such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of National Defense (DND), and Department of Justice (DOJ), also manage hundreds of millions in confidential funds.

The Office of the President, with the endorsement of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) authorized the transfer of confidential funds to the OVP at a later stage. Sara Duterte requested the funds in August 2022 for the safe, secure, and effective implementation of her office’s programs, including the establishment of OVP satellite offices. However, the OP only authorized the transfer on December 13, 2022.

The OVP’s utilization of the funds began on December 20, 2022. Under the law, public funds must be obligated within the fiscal year. With only 11 days remaining until December 31, the ₱125 million had to be utilized within that period in compliance with budgetary rules.

The Commission on Audit (COA) has not issued any ruling finding her guilty of corruption. If such a finding existed, the case would have already been referred to the Office of the Ombudsman, the independent body tasked with investigating and prosecuting corruption cases.

Atty. Gloria Camora, team leader of COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office, testified under oath in multiple hearings that the OVP’s use of confidential funds was in line with applicable rules and that documentary evidence covering 132 locations was submitted in their liquidation report.

Confidential funds are termed “confidential” for a reason. Under COA Joint Circular No. 2015-01 (guidelines on the use of confidential and intelligence funds), the submission of standard receipts is not required, and the law does not prescribe a specific timeline for their utilization. There is no prohibition against their use within a short period.

VP Sara Duterte sought to expand her Peace 911 initiative nationwide to address issues such as sexual abuse of students, recruitment into insurgent groups, criminality, school security threats, and drug use among personnel and students.

DepEd is considered a potential recruitment target due to its size, with over 810,000 employees and millions of students nationwide.

Confidential funds are necessary for intelligence work, including paying informants, gathering information, and supporting operational security. Public disclosure of specific expenditures could compromise ongoing operations and put individuals and their loved ones at risk.

Under the law, the Commission on Audit is the proper forum for reviewing the use of confidential funds. Members of Congress are not auditors, and their mandate does not include conducting audits. Additionally, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act prohibits the public disclosure of certain sensitive information. This explains why VP Sara chooses not to disclose details of confidential fund utilization in public hearings. It is a matter of national security, not an attempt to evade accountability.

The widely sensationalized ₱73 million Notice of Disallowance (NOD) issued by the Commission on Audit (COA) on VP Sara’s CFs use is not a final determination of corruption or

any wrongdoing. It is part of the audit process, typically requiring additional documentation or clarification. Many government agencies also receive Notices of Disallowances.

MARY GRACE PIATTOS?

Atty. Gloria Camora, the team leader of COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office, clarified in a hearing that the sensationalized name of a recipient of CFs is actually “Piatty,” not “Piattos.” “Mary Grace Piatty” is an alias or codename used to protect the identity of an individual involved in confidential or intelligence operations.

The use of aliases is common in agencies that handle confidential funds, as it ensures the safety and security of informants and operatives involved in sensitive work.

Requests for official documents, such as a birth certificate from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), for an alias would be inappropriate, as it does not correspond to a real legal identity.

Revealing the identity behind such an alias could endanger the individual and their family, especially given the risks associated with intelligence work involving criminal networks, insurgent groups, or cases of exploitation.

The purpose of maintaining confidentiality is to protect individuals involved in safeguarding public welfare, including efforts aimed at preventing recruitment into armed groups and addressing crimes such as exploitation and abuse.

“ISANG KAIBIGAN” CHILDREN’S BOOK

VP Sara also faced backlash online for a children’s book she authored entitled Isang Kaibigan.

The truth is that the book was not for sale, DepEd did not pay for its printing, and each copy costs around ₱50 to produce. DepEd did not shoulder the printing costs, and it did not cost ₱10 million in taxpayer money to produce. The plan was to distribute 200,000 copies (₱50 ×

200,000 = ₱10,000,000) to schoolchildren, complementing DepEd’s Learning Recovery Program to address literacy and reading comprehension gaps among Filipino learners. However, the ₱10 million figure was only a proposal by the Office of the Vice President (OVP), not final funding.

In fact, Education Secretary Sonny Angara and Undersecretary Gina Gonong clarified during the 2025 budget hearing that DepEd was not involved at all in the development, reproduction, or printing of the book.

CLASSROOM BACKLOG?

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), not DepEd, has the mandate to build and repair classrooms. DepEd only identifies, plans, and requests classroom needs; it does not construct classrooms.

In 2023, a ₱5 billion budget for classroom construction was proposed by the Marcos administration, with Sara Duterte as DepEd Secretary, in the 2023 National Expenditure Program (NEP) and transmitted to Congress for deliberation, as it holds the “power of the purse.”

Congress later inserted an additional ₱10 billion for classroom construction in the 2023 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

According to Sara Duterte, some congressmen asked if they could “chop-chop” portions of the ₱5 billion; she refused, as it would not help address classroom backlogs.

However, DepEd could not access the additional ₱10 billion insertion for classroom construction because it was not part of their original ₱5 billion proposal.

When the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA) was signed into law by President Marcos, he did not veto the ₱10 billion insertion.

Yet, when the 2023 DepEd accomplishment report and COA audits concerning classroom backlogs were released, it was VP Sara who was portrayed as being at fault, not Congress, which made the insertions, nor the President, who did not veto them.

This is one of the reasons VP Sara stated for her resignation from DepEd, because, according to her, Congress was politicizing her budget.

WEST PHILIPPINE SEA AND CHINA

Her critics point out her silence on the WPS issue, and use it as proof that she is pro-China, but it is not the job of the Office of the Vice President or DepEd to comment on foreign affairs – that mandate belongs to the President, who is the chief architect of foreign policy, and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Her silence does not constitute “treason,” as that crime would only apply in times of war, not in peacetime.

Moreover, PBBM himself had once said in April 2024 that it is not necessary for VP Sara to comment on the WPS issue.

VP Sara had already addressed her silence on the West Philippine Sea dispute in August 2024, stating that she follows the Philippine Constitution, which provides for an independent foreign policy. She affirms that the “West Philippine Sea” is firmly anchored in UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and the 2016 arbitral award registered at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). In an interview in May 2025, VP Sara said she is “pro- Philippines.” In a separate interview with RT in June, she said that the Philippines should not take sides between the two superpowers, China and the United States. This provides context for her earlier statement that she is “not pro any country [superpower] at all.”

She takes the view that the Philippines’ entitlements and rights in the West Philippine Sea should be pursued through diplomacy. At the same time, she expresses opposition to calls for war. She is definitely not afraid to stand up to the dying Epstein-compromised neo-imperial hegemony.

At this turning point in our nation’s history, I stand firm: hindi na sapat ang galit, kailangan natin ng lider na may tapang, malasakit, at paninindigan na kayang ipaglaban ang Pilipino laban sa bulok na sistema.

Sara Duterte has proven, time and again, that she will stand her ground, speak truth to power, and serve without fear.

I hereby declare again: Ako si Daniel Long, at ang aking Pangulo sa 2028 ay si Inday Sara Duterte. Ibalik natin ang tapang at malasakit para sa Diyos, para sa bayan, at para sa bawat pamilyang Pilipino. Tapusin na natin ang mga kriminal at korap.

INDAY SARA FOR PRESIDENT 2028! 🦅

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Daniel Long is an entrepreneurship student at Thames International and a Filipino writer contributing to the Asian Century Journal and The Manila Times. He is also a guest host of the “PH-China Talks” radio program on DWAD 1098 and a Youth Committee member of the Association for Philippines–China Understanding (APCU). He previously served as a speechwriter for Senator Imee Marcos and has represented the Philippines as a press and APCU delegate to China.