How will the Dutertes solve their problems?

The Dutertes are now beyond redemption. They are being abandoned by their allies and financiers. Pastor Quiboloy is now being detained. Michael Yang is currently in hiding. The PDP has been reduced to a ragtag party of "has-beens" gasping for life, unsupported, unfunded, and a hodge-podge aggrupation of unlamented unknowns.

They were almost there but they bungled it. The vice president was an ally of the president and she was already just a breath away from the Palace. But arrogance, pride, and too much ado about petty things led her to antagonize Malacañang and to bite the hand that fed her with power, prestige, and access to privilege. Now she is no longer in the loop and what is worse, she is considered an enemy of the administration.

As a member of the presidential Cabinet, she was deemed a member of the official family. She was an active participant in very important and strategic decision-making. She was privy to top secrets and highly-confidential information that involved foreign affairs, national security, and the most compelling threats to the nation's independence and sovereignty. Because she fought the Palace, she had been stripped of her status as the head of the biggest Cabinet portfolio. She is now an outsider of the sanctum sanctorum. As a result she is an outsider and a mere spare tire. This is a big problem for the vice president and her family.

Her father, the immediate past president, also displayed a blatant audacity to revive his highly-irresponsible attacks and unsubstantiated allegations of drugs against the president. As a former head of state and head of government of a nation with about 120 million people, he should have shown sufficient statesman-like restraint and a sense of propriety. He should have left the vicious attacks to his underlings and subalterns. He should have accorded some degree of respect to the position if he does not like the president as a person. He was tried then and was found wanting. Tinimbang ngunit kulang.

When Don Sergio Osmeña Sr. retired from politics, he came home to Cebu and remained silent and poised. He was defeated by his friends Manuel Roxas and Elpidio Quirino, former partymates in the NP. But the Grand Old Man of Cebu never uttered a word of criticism against the LP leaders. Don Sergio was a complete gentleman of the old school. In complete contrast, Duterte remained a parochial, petty, and even capricious mayor who never learned the refinements of high-level statesmanship and diplomacy in his language and demeanor.

Thus, the Palace retaliated and unleashed all the powers at its command. The vice president was not only stripped of her powers. She was deprived of her favorite confidential and intelligence funds. Not only that, the forces of the House speaker are closely scrutinizing her budget. COA is digging into her liquidations. There are high risks that cases will be filed against her, and there is an imminent danger of an impeachment. We all know that impeachment is not really a judicial proceedings but a political exercise. Since the enemies have the numbers, the vice president can be impeached by the House and can be convicted by the Senate, especially the Senate after the 2025 polls.

The former president can also be subjected by the ICC to a trial for crimes against humanity. He was daring the ICC to come and get him during the last Quad committee hearing. For all we know, he might get what he is asking for. The DOJ is also investigating his alleged past EJK and alleged Davao Death Squad. Duterte can even lose in his bid for city mayor and his son Polong can lose too. The Nograles lawyer siblings are no pushovers. If all these happen, that will be the end of the Dutertes.

All their friends are gone. No more GMA, no more Villar, no more Imee Marcos, no more Francis Tolentino, and no more Quiboloy. The House of Duterte is crumbling down. All that went up are now going down. It takes a miracle to make a comeback. But Quiboloy is now unable to make miracles. He can't even save himself.