12/07/2025
WHY DO THE LEFT AND THE MAKABAYAN BLOC HATE VP SARA’S CONFIDENTIAL FUNDS?
The ongoing attacks on Vice President Sara Duterte’s use of confidential funds expose an uncomfortable truth: who these funds are targeting, and why some groups are desperate to shut them down.
The Left and the Makabayan Bloc oppose VP Sara’s confidential funds because they threaten their allies—the CPP-NPA-NDF, their front organizations, and their network of sympathizers.
The CPP-NPA has long been designated as a communist terrorist group (CTG) by the Philippine government, and as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, and other countries. These groups have engaged in decades of armed struggle, extortion, recruitment of minors, and attacks on civilians and government forces.
While critics cry for “transparency,” what they refuse to admit is that these funds have been used to disrupt youth recruitment, uncover child abuse, fight drug and gang violence in schools, and support the government’s anti-insurgency efforts through the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
VP Sara, aside from being Vice President, also served as Secretary of Education and Vice Co-Chair of NTF-ELCAC from 2022 to early 2024. These weren’t symbolic roles—they were strategic assignments by the President, reflecting trust in her leadership to tackle critical issues where politics often gets in the way of solutions.
And what did she uncover? Nearly 2,000 unresolved child abuse cases from 2019–2020. Around 20% of Filipino children online were victims of sexual exploitation. Over 12% of surrendered rebels were minors, some as young as 12.
At least 16 Metro Manila public high schools were identified as breeding grounds for communist recruitment. More than 11,000 incidents of drug- and gang-related violence involved students.
And there were tangible wins: in 2023, confidential intelligence operations led to the interception of a planned CPP-NPA recruitment caravan disguised as a “youth leadership training” in two Eastern Visayas high schools. Over 50 students were rescued and given proper counseling and support. Similarly, coordinated surveillance in Mindoro in late 2023, funded in part by DepEd’s confidential allocations, exposed a trafficking ring preying on students and indigenous children for exploitation in armed conflict. The suspects were arrested and dozens of minors were reunited with their families.
Who benefits from silencing these findings? The Reds. The CPP-NPA-NDF. The criminals.
These are the same groups her confidential funds were meant to monitor, disrupt, and defeat.
The NTF-ELCAC, a flagship program launched under President Rodrigo Duterte, aims to end decades of armed conflict by cutting off recruitment, funding, and operations of communist terrorist groups. It worked: under his administration, the number of active CPP-NPA fighters was reduced by more than 60%, from about 4,000 armed regulars in 2016 to fewer than 1,800 by 2022, based on AFP estimates. Hundreds of barangays were declared insurgency-free.
Even earlier, when Inday Sara was mayor of Davao City, she demonstrated how strong leadership and community-focused anti-insurgency programs could make a real difference. Davao City—once a hotbed of NPA activity—became one of the first highly urbanized cities declared insurgency-free. Her administration combined security operations with social services and intelligence-driven disruption of CTG activities, cutting off their presence in schools and barangays.
Critics often ask: Why not just disclose the spending details?
Because the law doesn’t allow it—and for good reason. Disclosing such operations could endanger students, educators, agents, informants, and the very mission to secure our schools and communities.
Under DBM Joint Circular 2015-01, as well as the Administrative Code of 1987, RA 6713, and various executive orders, VP Sara is bound to protect classified operations.
Revealing the specifics of confidential funds would not only be illegal, it would sabotage the very programs meant to keep our children and communities safe.
And what’s their real agenda? Impeachment.
This isn’t just about budget scrutiny. It’s about political assassination. The critics pushing for full disclosure know it would force VP Sara to break the law—giving them the very grounds they want for impeachment.
The public deserves accountability, yes—but within the bounds of the law, not at the cost of national security. The solution is not to weaken or abolish confidential funds, but to improve oversight mechanisms without compromising operational secrecy.
Instead, detractors prefer to dismantle tools that have proven effective in rooting out insurgents and saving lives.
Let’s call a spade a spade. If you oppose the confidential funds used to protect children, secure schools and communities, and fight communist terrorists, then you’re siding—wittingly or unwittingly—with those who prey on our youth and our democracy.
Who are they? The Reds. The CPP-NPA-NDF. The criminals.
VP Sara put it best: “Kung sino man ang kumokontra sa confidential funds ay kumokontra sa kapayapaan. Kung sino ang kumokontra sa kapayapaan ay kalaban ng bayan.”
