THE ANATOMY OF A DECEMBER DOWNFALL

I. Prologue: The Festive Season of Scandals

As the Christmas lights twinkle across Manila, the political atmosphere is anything but peaceful. December 2025 has become a crucible for the Philippine government, characterized by the mysterious passing of a high-ranking official, a failed “bagman” exposé, and the discovery of architectural anomalies in the country’s most exclusive enclave. The overarching theme is the collapse of scripts—where manufactured testimonies meet the cold, hard reality of digital logs and forensic reports.

II. The Madriaga Script: A Study in Legal Failure

The attempt to link Vice President Sara Duterte to illicit campaign funds through a supposed “bagman” named Ramil Madriaga has faced a catastrophic setback. Madriaga, currently detained and facing serious criminal charges, filed a sworn affidavit claiming he delivered illicit cash for the Vice President and funded her 2022 campaign.

However, the narrative fell apart under the scrutiny of official records. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla clarified that while the Vice President did visit a high-profile prisoner, it was not Madriaga. Jail records indicate she visited former lawmaker Arnolfo Teves Jr., and the meeting was limited to “casual greetings.”

The Alibi Problem: Madriaga’s legal team attempted to defend their client’s inability to provide specific dates and times for the alleged meetings by claiming he “did not have a calendar” while in detention. Critics have pointed out the absurdity of this claim, as all visitors to BJMP facilities—especially public figures—are meticulously recorded in logbooks.

The Vice President countered these allegations by dismissing them as “noise” generated by a man desperate to secure his release. She further clarified that the “evidence” photos provided by Madriaga were merely images taken during public election campaign events where many supporters were present.

III. The Cabral Tape: 24 Hours Before the Fall

The mystery of former DPWH Undersecretary Maria Catalina “Kathy” Cabral has reached a forensic peak with the release of exclusive CCTV footage from the Ion Hotel in Baguio City. The footage provides a definitive timeline of the day before her body was found at the bottom of a 30-meter ravine on Kennon Road.

1:00 PM (Thursday): Cabral is seen walking into the driveway of the Ion Hotel.

1:05 PM: Her SUV, driven by Ricardo Hernandez, arrives.

1:10 PM: Cabral and her driver check in and take the elevator to the fourth floor.

2:47 PM: Cabral is seen knocking on her driver’s door. They depart the hotel shortly after, heading toward the site of the incident.

The Medical Evidence: Laboratory tests performed by the PNP have added a new layer to the tragedy. Cabral tested positive for a specific antidepressant drug. While this has led authorities to lean away from foul play, the search warrant for her smartphone remains active. Investigators want to know who she was conversing with in the week prior and if there were any threats to her life.

IV. The Five-Story Basement: The Forbes Park Vault

In another startling revelation, Secretary Remulla confirmed the existence of a highly unusual construction project in Forbes Park, Makati. A residence owned by former Congressman Saldi Co, a figure also implicated in the multi-billion peso flood control projects, reportedly features a five-story basement.

While building permits often focus on vertical height (floor-to-area ratio or FAR), the “downward” construction of five floors has raised alarms. Secretary Remulla suggested that such a structure is “not normal” for a private residence and speculated it could be intended for the “storage of money.” This architectural anomaly is being treated as potential evidence of a systematic effort to hide the proceeds of the flood control anomaly.

V. The Battle of Insertions: Leviste vs. Ridon

The war over the 2025 National Budget has moved from the halls of Congress to a heated exchange between Batangas Representative Leandro Leviste and Bicol Saro Party-list Representative Terry Ridon.

Leviste challenged the transparency of his colleagues, alleging that certain party-lists are benefiting from massive “insertions” or pork-barrel style allocations. Specifically, Leviste pointed to a 150-million-peso insertion in the 2025 budget for a project linked to Bicol Gold Rock Corporation, associated with the Bicol Saro Party-list.

The Counter-Argument: Terry Ridon fired back, arguing that he wasn’t even a congressman when the 2024 budget was being prepared. However, Leviste pointed out that the “party-list system” maintains continuity. Regardless of who the sitting representative is, the party itself secures the insertion. Leviste has called for the release of the “Cabral List”—a supposed digital ledger of every congressman and proponent who received budget insertions through the DPWH’s parametric formula.

VI. The Duterte Christmas: Exile and Sentiment

In the midst of these domestic battles, former President Rodrigo Duterte remains a central figure in the hearts of his supporters. Attorney Harry Roque, currently abroad, addressed the “DDS Maisog” (the Brave DDS) movement, encouraging a “no remittance” protest from OFWs from December 18 to 30 to voice their anger over the corruption allegations against the current administration and to call for the protection of the former President.

Roque shared that while the former President is facing legal pressure, he is spending his Christmas with his youngest daughter, Kitty Duterte. This imagery of a “lonely but loved” father figure is being used to contrast the “corruption and noise” coming from the Malacañang-aligned investigations.

VII. Conclusion: A Nation in Flux

The end of 2025 is not bringing closure, but rather a thickening of the plot. The “scripts” used to target the Vice President are being dismantled by record-keeping, while the de@th of Kathy Cabral is being analyzed through a lens of psychological struggle and over-priced infrastructure.

As the government moves toward creating an “Independent Truth Commission” to look into EJKs, and as the “Five-Story Basement” of Forbes Park is scrutinized, the Filipino public is left with a stark reality: the truth is often hidden in plain sight—either in a deleted YouTube video, a hotel CCTV frame, or a laboratory test for depression. The “Long Arm of the Law” is reaching out, but it remains to be seen whose neck it will finally catch.