Unbowed

All along people thought persons who face congressional proceedings take the oath as a gesture of commitment to tell the truth.

Since Vice President Sara Duterte refused to take her oath, was she being truthful when she faced a House committee as a resource person last Wednesday? She was there mainly to unleash another tirade against the nasty lawmakers who are out (she says) to impeach her.

Even former presidents Noynoy Aquino and Fidel Ramos had taken the oath when they faced Senate hearings, also as resource persons, after they had stepped down from office. Aquino was questioned about his administration’s controversial Dengvaxia anti-dengue program; Ramos about independent power producers. They didn’t invoke their right to self-incrimination, unlike VP Sara.

The VP, who asked congressmen not to give her any special treatment, came off acting (as usual) like a VIP entitled to exemptions from the rules.

It didn’t help that while other resource persons took their oath as the stone-faced VP sat there defiantly, beside her was her ally, Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who since her presidency has had problems in the truthfulness department.

The VP has resorted to gaslighting amid the disclosures – backed by official reports of the Commission on Audit – of the way she has spent impressively large allocations of people’s money when she was mayor of Davao City, and then the powerful princess of the Duterte administration, and then the bestie of President Marcos.

She clearly did not intend to answer questions of the House committee on good governance and public accountability, which is investigating fund utilization by the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

Instead, she went to the hearing for the opportunity to lambast anew not just congressmen but their leader, her arch enemy (and GMA’s) Martin Romualdez. As of yesterday, there was no reaction from the Speaker.

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As I have written, the Dutertes aren’t the type who back out from a fight. And they can be as pugnacious as abused American XL bully dogs.

The “bratinella” is going for a good offense as her defense, and using Romualdez to hammer home her point about the House moves related to her office funding as a politically driven assault whose ultimate aim is to impeach her.

BBM is easy to attack through Romualdez. The Speaker has developed a reputation for doing the dirty work and fighting the battles for the conflict-averse BBM, which is probably why he’s the President’s favorite cousin; he’s the Mr. Hyde to BBM’s Dr. Jekyll. (BBM will reject comparisons with Jekyll.)

Even without the VP’s tirades, there are people who see the Speaker as a scheming, untrustworthy person, thanks to acts such as the underhanded signature campaign for Charter change and the railroading of the Maharlika Investment Fund. His hand is seen in the bicameral conference that inserted the “rider” allowing the impounding of billions in funds of government corporations, including the Philippine Health Corp., and their diversion to the congressional pork barrel, a.k.a. unprogrammed appropriations.

In terms of popularity, Romualdez will be clobbered by VP Sara. Even when he speaks Filipino, the mass appeal is missing.

But the Speaker, fully backed by his cousin’s administration, can inflict grievous damage on the VP, her relatives and their supporters.

If she’s not removed by impeachment, the VP may be among those handed over to the Interpol along with her father and two pro-Duterte senators, upon the request of the International Criminal Court (ICC), for crimes against humanity.

Just to further enrage the Dutertes, Marcos 2.0 can have the country rejoin the ICC. It will enhance his international cachet and rebranding of the Marcos name. The gloves are already off anyway and BBM no longer has to worry about such a move offending his VP, who is quickly transforming into the leader of the new opposition.

VP Sara has made it clear that she sees the Speaker’s hand in the committee on appropriations, with senior vice chair Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo presiding over the panel’s deliberations on the 2025 budget proposal of the OVP.

Based on the Dutertes’ comments, some of which have degenerated into infantile insults, they think there’s a special place in hell for Quimbo.

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For good measure, the VP has completed her break with BBM. Now she says that she and BBM were not besties, that they were simply brought together for the UniTeam alliance of convenience in 2022, with her “only real friend” in the Marcos clan being BBM’s Ate Imee. The Ate and GMA reportedly brokered the formidable tandem.

It’s interesting that VP Sara has borrowed an opposition battle cry from the Marcos dictatorship – “never again” – in expressing her regret for supporting BBM.

That original battle cry culminated in the collapse of the dictatorship and the flight of Ferdinand and Imeldific plus their kids, along with whatever cash and Imelda’s jewelry they could fit into the US Air Force C-130 aircraft. (But look where they are now! Even the dictator is in his preferred burial site, the heroes’ cemetery, thanks to the Dutertes.)

Lately the Dutertes have been warning that Ferdinand Junior could suffer the same fate as the father he idolizes.

We have yet to hear a reaction to the VP’s latest tirades from BBM, whose gentlemanly persona, by most accounts, is not just an act. Maybe the reaction will be provided by the family member who can match the VP’s pugnacity: First Lady Liza.

VP Sara should note that there are people who actually say “never again” to refer to another Duterte presidency. But she will likely shrug this off.

The VP correctly described herself as “unbowed” at the House last Wednesday. Marcos 2.0 can expect her to remain unbowed all the way to 2028.