Treats from hell

The vice president has mounted a frontal attack against the president. Sara Duterte came out swinging this week, blathering about how incompetent Bongbong Marcos is, how this country is on the road to hell, and how she made a mistake in choosing him as her running mate for the last elections (girl, you have no idea).

Sara didn’t stop there. She also went for the Marcos pater, boasting that she herself would dig up his remains from where they are ostensibly buried in the National Heroes Cemetery, and throw those in the West Philippine Sea. How’s that for a Halloween treat? At least she knew enough to use the proper terminology to bolster our territorial claim to those waters. Rather than saying “South China Sea”, out popped WPS, an aberration from the Dutertes’ usual obeisance to China.

What does Sara gain from this tirade?

She dismisses Marcos Jr. as being weak, as having no programs to combat inflation or address food security. Does she think the voters who voted him in ever cared about his prowess at economic solutions?

She recounts a tale about a child being humiliated for having the cheek to ask for a watch worn by the president on his wrist. Does she think we believe her family is known for treating constituents with humility or respect? Remember which vulnerable sectors were humiliated by her father. Women? Gays? Teens caught in the middle of the drug war?

As for respect, we failed to see copious quantities of that during Sara’s testimony before Congress. She even manhandled a puny public officer who was just trying to do his job, ham fists and all. Does she think people will now believe she somehow became empathetic?

Speaking of fists, strategy-wise, why would she take the gloves off? At least, previously, the rift between the Marcos and Duterte families were just whispered about. There were speculations of chilly relations, but proof was hard to find. There was enough room for plastic interaction, if that ever was an option. Or even a brokered reconciliation. If they were indeed waging a war, then all that could happen behind-the-scenes with no witnesses.

That’s not possible now. Sara has publicly burned the bridges, and so moving forward, the jousting and clashing will be performed in an arena open to the public. Does Sara then think that fighting her battles before a wide-eyed public would benefit her and her family? That since the eyes of the Filipinos (and the international press) are on her, she is better protected?

Or is she goading the Marcos family into action, hoping they would do something premature, and allowing her family to implement their own strategy? Perhaps, she fears the unknown, and she would rather that the cards be laid at the table so she can also show hers? Show me yours, and I’ll show you mine was always a favorite tactic of mine.

Why particularly now? This came at the heels of yet another official pronouncement that Marcos would not (again) cooperate with the International Criminal Court in its prosecution of her father for crimes against humanity. That’s rocking the boat or biting the hand that just fed her. Does she not believe Marcos would do just that (refuse ICC cooperation)?

Or, gasp, does she actually want her father arrested, so she can be rid of that omnipresent father figure in her political life? When things don’t make sense… is this a declaration of independence from a wayward daughter?

Or is this merely the actions of a person who has never tasted defeat? Who cannot imagine that she can ever be vanquished, as her life has always trodden the easy path, and so it is unthinkable that anything adverse could happen against her? And so she is free to open her mouth, and damn the consequences, because those consequences could never, ever, lead to her being forced to grovel and scrape?

Make no mistake though, the times have certainly become more interesting. BBM’s spokesman has declined to comment, and already announced that his principal would not address this outburst from the veep. But in the background, there must be furious debate, and fervent pitches for this or that response. Decisions will be made, and screws will be tightened.

What card will the Marcos faction play? From what direction will it come from? Are we about to see a nasty surprise?

Sara expects to be dragged to hell. It’s trick or treat time.