EDITORIAL - What if Grace and Bongbong win?

No matter how final some political declarations of intent may seem at the moment, it will always be, as they say, not over until the fat lady sings. And so, while Mar Roxas and Leni Robredo, Grace Poe and Chiz Escudero, Jejomar Binay and Gringo Honasan, and Bongbong Marcos and Antonio Trillanes with God knows who, have all said they would, until they file their certificates of candidacy next week, the people will never really know for sure if they will.

But granted nothing happens between now and October 16, the last day for the filing of certificates of candidacy, and all of the above, plus the possibility of a Rodrigo Duterte playing catch-the-last-bus, all make good on their public declarations to run for either president or vice president, then expect the country to be consumed by one of the greatest Philippine pastimes of all -- political speculation.

Already there is a speculative dampener to the bids of two of the most popular among the names mentioned above -- Poe and Robredo. Poe, as declared, will be running for the presidency while Robredo, as persuaded (some say strong-armed), will be gunning for the vice presidency. Given their respective popularities, some have already speculated a mixed ticket result for the top positions. Not so fast, say the dampeners. No two women have made it to the top ever. It's not going to happen.

True enough, while women have made it to the top, no two women have made it to the top together, meaning there has never been a woman who became president and had another woman as vice president, whether here or anywhere, or at least anywhere where it mattered. This does not mean, however, that it could never happen, or that it could never happen here.

But then that is the speculation, and the market for speculation is as wide as it is free. That being so, the space is wide for other speculative pairings, and as free as well. But of all the speculations, or at least among the early ones that have surfaced, nothing is as interesting and as intriguing as this possible winning tandem - Grace Poe and Bongbong Marcos.

Now that would be a winning pair that will reverberate throughout the land and squeeze from stone every drop of credulity there may be to squeeze. Grace and Bongbong, a winning pair that titillates not only for what it could mean to the political landscape of the Philippines from thereon, but also because it is, in fact, very very possible.

And why is a Grace Poe-Bongbong Marcos winning tandem so interesting and intriguing? Well, as said, the realm of speculation is as wide as it is free, and anybody can cook up any meaning to what he sees. But really, a Grace Poe-Bongbong Marcos tandem is, well, allow us to just put it this way: In the Senate, where both are currently members, Grace jokingly calls Bongbong "brod" and Bongbong jokingly calls Grace "sis." What more is there to say? Just speculate