Sara Duterte holds steady as crooked impeachment circus looms

Vice President Sara Duterte’s calm demeanor yesterday was indicative that they had anticipated this impeachment move and accepted it as a foregone conclusion. The lingering question is the timing given the complaint was transmitted to the Senate by the House of Representatives on its last session day.

Perhaps it was because House Speaker Martin Romualdez expected to force the hand of the Senate on acting on it before the session ended or maybe it was an agreement which was not honored by the Senate President. Regardless, everything is left hanging until June 2, when the Senate resumes its session or if President Bongbong Marcos (BBM) or the Senate president calls for a special session to tackle the impeachment complaint.

A Marcos loyalist who’s not in favor of impeachment, Yen Makabenta makes all the right arguments against the impeachment of Inday in his Manila Times article “House will fall flat on its face with impeach Sara plot”. He isn’t blind to the Pandora’s box that the impeachment has unleashed against the administration.

If Speaker Martin Romualdez is truly the mastermind behind the House caper, it is doubtful whether he will be mistaken now as presidential material ripe for election. If anything, this affair probably has made it unlikely or impossible for him to be elected as the new speaker of the 20th Congress in July. Martin’s ambition, sad to say, is an obsession that cannot speak its name. He cannot publicly say that he plans to run for president in 2028.

The advantage is on the side of Inday because they have a number of options in the interim. For the most part, it looks like she and former President Rodrigo Duterte (PRRD) have decided to milk the impeachment for all its worth. It will become the central issue of the campaign and will put candidates in the awkward position of having to disclose what their stand is.

It will also make the public think of their plight; inflation and the inability of the administration to bring prices of basic commodities down. There is an increase in utilities as well. The legislated wage hike won’t be taken up until June again and it’s not certain it will be passed before the end of the 19th Congress. There is opposition from employers who aren’t keen on being forced to pay for an increase that will hit small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMSEs) hard.

The bottomline is even before the impeachment, the administration didn’t have the momentum going into the midterm election and they have only added to the problems they face. The biggest is the citizenry can’t feel the benefits of the supposed economic growth that is being touted by the economic managers.

There is also the bad taste in the mouth left by the legislators with their ostentatious lifestyles financed by public funds. There is also the highway robbery that is the 2025 budget to add to this.

The past three years have confirmed that the leadership of the country is composed of an inner circle of three. It is evident in the way things are done and the inconsistencies which are too many for the public not to come to that conclusion.

It’s up to the public to judge the administration at the polls in May. Should the Duterte candidates be elected this makes Marcos a lameduck going into 2028 and political alliances will shift again. The Dutertes will not accept turncoats, but if they will, you can be sure there will be a reckoning where all those who did them wrong will be made to account and pay. This makes it imperative for the administration and their allies to stay in power.

How all of this will end no one knows. For as long as there is no leader who has the political will to undertake genuine reform, the Philippines will never get out of the rut it is in.

It’s ironic that after just three years in power, it feels to me that we’re back in 1985 all over again.

Ramon Ortoll

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