The impeachment of Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio by 215 members of the House of Representatives defangs the Duterte dynasty, pushes it on the defensive, and throws a monkey wrench into Sara’s campaign for the presidency that started late last year. By zeroing in on the assassination threats on Marcos Jr., his wife, Lisa Cacho Araneta Marcos, and Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, the complaint betrays the signature of the Palace, which got additional ammunition against the Dutertes after they claimed that the 2025 national budget is bogus.
Stripping Sara of largesse that she could have employed to start campaigning this year, the Dutertes will now have to dig deeper into their pockets to defend Sara, who has claimed that a legion of lawyers has volunteered to defend her. Yet, the best prosecutors are the facts culled from the investigation into her financial hanky-panky, the payoffs to DepEd officials, the dubious rewards to people with fabricated names, stolen snack brands, and the mindless physical distribution of cash to more than 30 provinces and urban centers in one day. The entire enterprise was designed to insult common sense and the intelligence of Filipinos and go around bureaucratic rules and the law. So egregious were Sara’s actions that it would be hard for serious lawyers to craft a legal theory to succor Sara from the hole she had dug herself.
All because of her hubris and failure to reread her law, Sara has practically assisted her opponents in crafting the complaint. Shades of Picasso telling the Germans that they did “Guernica” and he only painted it. By insulting Congress members and not offering evidence to disprove their allegations, Sara weakened her defense. Claiming that her “evidence” would not be entertained by those who persecute her, she practically allowed her detractors to build the case against her. Tragic as her inscrutable statements, whatever defense she wishes to salvage now would be a farce. The greater tragedy is that Sara and the Duterte dynasty are getting a dose of their medicine, After eliminating former allies in Davao City, they monopolized power, harassed their enemies in Manila and the entire government and waged a campaign of terror disguised as a “war on drugs.”
They failed to ascertain that they were giving the floor for the Marcoses to exploit. By banging away at Marcos Jr. and Romualdez, the Dutertes forgot that the Marcoses are laying the “Grundrisse” for controlling the entire state apparatus from now and until at least 2040. It is a foregone conclusion that there will be a trial by the Senate and there will be a lot of horse trading for the 16 votes needed to convict Sara. With the budget already enacted, the Marcos faction can creatively assure senators that those who decide correctly will be amply rewarded. For those who refuse to do so, there is hell to pay. Sen. Imee Marcos may be saying she would not convict Sara but like other politicians, her statement is not set in stone. Who knows, she might even be chosen to run in 2028 if Romualdez accedes and plays the role of a bridesmaid. Blood is not only thicker than water. It also has eight different types.
Remember the story that the Dutertes wanted Romualdez to be speaker in 2016 until the “better angels” of their nature called up Alan Peter Cayetano and he ruled the roost, acting as the Duterte enforcer who became the gatekeeper and assisted immensely in spending the budget as it there were no tomorrow, doubling the national debt in the process and causing the debt to swell. Duterte’s borrowings were bigger than the debt incurred by all previous presidents of the republic. Cayetano’s nomination caused some squabble at Mt. Olympus and Cayetano ruled the roost. Romualdez took his time and even got some sinecure in the process.
If Imee doesn’t run, then Lisa Marcos may be persuaded to get the draft since she already has more than her ample influence in all instrumentalities of the regime, from refurbishing the Cultural Center and other structures in the expanded reclamation area. By 2034, Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos, now better known as Ferdinand Marcos III will be ready to carry the torch. By being the first to sign the impeachment complaint, Sandro suddenly took the cudgels for the “people” and showed that even for once, he can work hard to show in nine years that he is glib, rational, not an eager beaver and ready to rise to the occasion. If the voters are not nauseated with political dynasties, patronage, false promises, indolence, incompetence, and bogus logic, then Ferdinand Marcos III can get a shot at it.
By this time, bribing congressmen with P150 million to secure Sara’s conviction is giving lawmakers a bad name. Spending more than P32-billion for impeachment before the trial is spit in the ocean considering the huge amounts for unprogrammed appropriations, the allocations for public works projects that DPWH did not seek and thousands of project that the dispensation could create so as not to disappoint Marcos allies. The outstanding debt has breached more than P16-trillion. Marcos Jr. is not constrained from borrowing some more, say up to P20-trillion, since the future generations can achieve progress by toiling to the utmost. They won’t be born with the silver spoon.
The Senate may well take its time to delay the impeachment trial even if the chamber can readily amend its rules and tackle the issue right off the bat. Yet, the honorable lawmakers would dither inasmuch as the process “would interfere” with the electoral campaign. The troubling fact is that they still believe that the Duterte cult is so strong that they will lose millions of votes if they are perceived to be against Sara. If they think in this manner, they must contend with the millions more who have seen why Sara deserves the boot. Under normal, rational conditions, the senators are the jury and as jurors, they must look at the evidence and not decide beforehand that Sara merits acquittal. The issue is that they must think with their heads and not with their derrieres. (DIEGO MORRA)
