The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte is a crucial step toward delivering justice to the gravely betrayed public. She has revealed herself to be unfit to uphold the trust placed in her office, especially in managing public funds. In just two years as Vice President, Sara Duterte accessed at least Php612.5 million of confidential funds, which were squandered on questionable accounts.

It turns out, however, that malversation of public funds is not new for the Vice-President. She has allegedly engaged in this misconduct since holding public office, starting as Vice Mayor, then as Mayor of Davao City. Between 2006 and 2015, approximately Php2 billion was reportedly amassed across several joint bank accounts maintained by Sara Duterte and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte. The amount of wealth is vastly disproportionate to her declared net worth of only Php13.8 million in 2007, raising serious questions about the source of these funds.

That’s not all. As Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) for two years, she requested Php150 million in confidential funds, which were reportedly not used for direct services or to address the sector’s pressing needs.

The irony of all of these is that the education sector faces a persistent resources backlog that has contributed to the ongoing learning crisis in the Philippines.

While Sara Duterte has kept the details of her lavish spending hidden from the public, the education system continues to face glaring infrastructure gaps, with a reported shortage of 165,443 classrooms. As a result, many schools have resorted to multiple shifts and alternative delivery modes.

Currently, only 30% of all school buildings are in good condition. More than half of concrete and all wooden school buildings in the country will be beyond their useful life by 2040. The completion rate of classroom construction has also declined over the past five years; without new construction or maintenance, only 16% of classrooms would remain in good condition by 2040. 

The delays in the development and distribution of textbooks have also been a long-standing concern in the basic education sector. About 95% of Grade 4 students attend schools where instruction is hindered by shortages of learning materials in both Science and Math. At least 20% of Grade 5 students have to share textbooks with one or more classmates. This means that even though DepEd reported sufficient textbook procurement for this grade level, there still aren’t enough for every student.

Meanwhile, there is a shortage of 86,000 in teaching positions to meet the ideal ratio of 30 students per teacher.

The total amount of Php2.150 billion that may be considered ill-amassed wealth may not fully meet the growing needs of the education sector, but it could have achieved more than unmet targets and would benefit thousands of Filipinos rather than just one government official and the political dynasty where she belongs.

The average cost of a classroom is about Php2-2.6 million. Using this figure, the Php2.150 billion can instead be used to construct 826 new classrooms in remote Last Mile Schools, improving access to education for underserved communities. Some 4,300 classrooms can also be repaired.

The amount can also be used to address the need for education resources, such as 71.6 million textbooks that cost Php30 each, 61,428 laptops worth Php35,000 per piece, the annual salaries of 6,635 newly-employed teachers at Salary Grade 11 rates (amounting to 27,000), and 3.5 million subsidized public school uniforms.

But hopes and dreams will remain out of reach as long as a public official continues to misuse public funds – especially if Sara Duterte stays and is not held accountable for her actions against the Filipino people. 

Letting Sara off the hook will not deal a major blow against the Marcoses or other political dynasties – but it will harm the Filipino people, who have long been deprived of essential services, even more, while high officials of the land like Sara abuse authority and misuse public funds.

If the people were to take over the duty that the Senators have abandoned, and deliver the verdict, Sara Duterte would be found guilty as charged.