By TONY LOPEZ
As a gofer, go-to man, bag or trash man, special assistant and driver-cum security officer, no one perhaps could handle various roles assigned him better than did Ramil L. Madriaga to President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Sara Z. Duterte, presidential heir apparent and she claims, a shoo-in for the presidency in 2028.
Ramil is a law graduate and has had nearly 30 years (1993 to 2021) of government experience in the fields of economic intelligence and investigation, national security, dummy and bodyguard work, and presidential security.
In 2016, Ramil got the break of a lifetime. Then congressman, Annapolis-navy graduate Roilo Golez introduced him to then Rodrigo Duterte to support the Davao mayor’s presidential candidacy. Duterte got elected. He assigned Madriaga as his principal civilian counter-intelligence agent at the National Security Council, providing information on Duterte’s “Oplan Double Barrel”, the Philippine National Police’s master plan to neutralize drug lords and vital drug addicts. The notorious masterplan is now a material evidence in the prosecution of former President Duterte for crime against humanity before the International Criminal Court.
In 2018, Madriaga was assigned to Davao Mayor Sara Duterte to gather intelligence on politics, law, and counter intelligence. Both Madriaga and Sara went to the same law school, San Sebastian College where they were –not exactly outstanding.
In 2020, per Sara’s instruction, Madriaga formed ISIP—Inday Sara Is My President movement. In 2022, Sara won as vice president and the ever reliable Ramil was tasked to form the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG). In that group, Ramil met Col. Dennis Nolasco, one of his students at the Presidential Security Group (PSG) and the commandant of the PSG Training School. Nolasco tapped Col. Raymund Dante Lachica to head VPSPG.
“Our work involved tactical transport services, securing VP Sara and other VIPs, conveying highly confidential information, and transporting large amounts of money to several persons as instructed by VP Sara,” relates Madriaga in his affidavit of Nov. 29, 2025.
Per his two affidavits, some of the notable errands Madriaga did for Sara and President Digong Duterte:
— “I read from several media reports that the One Hundred Twenty-Five Million Pesos (P125,000,000.00) OVP confidential funds in 2022 were reportedly utilized in just eleven (11) days. This is wrong because I personally disposed the money in less than twenty-four (24) hours.”—18 hours to be exact per Madriaga lawyer Raymund Palad.
— He picked up bags of cash disguised as trash from POGO operators and drug dealers to fund ISIP, at locations such as The Gate in Pampanga Vertis Mall, Seda Hotel in Quezon City, and Grand Hyatt in BGC.
— Drove a Vios with P80 million cash to an SM Megamall parking slot. “One day, I saw the same Vios being driven by the wife of Ombudsman Prosecutor Ryan Rey Quilala, named Rhea, who was a classmate of VP Sara Duterte at SSC – Law.”
— Facilitated the release of magnetic lifters, per instructions of Atty. Manases “Mans” Carpio, “husband of VP Sara”, from the Bureau of Customs. The contents of the magnetic lifters–at least 500 kilograms of shabu worth P4.3 billion, were declared missing.
— In 2018, “PRRD asked Sara to go to his home in Taal St., Bangkal, Davao City to discuss the upcoming local elections in Davao City where Sara was going to run for re-election as Mayor. PRRD introduced me to Sara and told me “Ram, ikaw na bahala kay Inday.” She gave me strict instructions that all conversations should be done, as much as possible, by call, and minimize text messages.”
— “PRRD also asked me to profile individuals associated with Sara because she is his favorite among his children. PRRD wanted Sara in politics instead of Paolo Duterte (‘Polong’) and Sebastian Duterte (‘Baste’) who he characterized as ‘baliw’ and ‘bading’, respectively.
— “Despite only earning P100,000 to P150,000 from my services to PRRD, millions of pesos went through bank accounts opened for me by close associates of PRRD. During PRRD’s term as President, I served as a dummy for the transfer of large amounts of money. These transfers were made through bank accounts that were opened under my name…These were opened by people close to PRRD who informed me that money will be transferred to these accounts for ‘intelligence operations’ and for laundering. I was later instructed to sign entire checkbooks where the amounts and payees are left blank. I agreed to do this because, at the time, I had complete trust in PRRD and his close associates.”
— “There were also instances where PRRD would instruct me to personally visit the said banks to pick up the money and bring it to Malacañang or to designated individuals. I distinctly remember that PRRD directed me on three (3) separate occasions to pick up One Hundred Million Pesos (P100,000,000.00) from a bank inside a mall in Lubao, Pampanga which were all delivered to Malacañang.
— “In the morning of December 20, 2022, Sara called me and she said ‘Sir Ram, please coordinate with Col. Nolasco. Meron tayong deliver sa San Pablo, Laguna, sa Nightstrip, at sa Ombudsman’. Sara added ‘bawi tayo sa kanila’. Later, I received a text message from her indicating the places of delivery, which include: (a) San Pablo, Laguna, (b) Nightstrip, and (c) Office of the Ombudsman (“OMB”), and the corresponding contact numbers. The money was in four bags, each bag contained around Thirty Million Pesos (P30,000,000.00) to Thirty-Five Million Pesos (P35,000,000.00).
On March 4, 2026, VP filed a complaint against Madriaga. Sara said in bold letters:
“There is no truth to any of the foregoing statements in the Madriaga Affidavit. i have no personal or professional relationship with Madriaga. In fact, prior to the dissemination of the Madriaga Affidavit, I had no recollection of knowing, meeting, or interacting with Madriaga.”
A criminal suspect, Madriaga now fears for his life.