VICE PRESIDENT Sara Duterte, in a recent statement, issued a public apology for her role in helping President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. win the presidency in the May 2022 election.
VP Sara was, without doubt, referring to her having run as Marcos, Jr.’s tandem in the UniTeam. We believe that the second-highest official of the land thought that it was her more than 31 million votes that carried Marcos, Jr. to the Presidency. But was it really?
It may be recalled that Sara was rumored to be eyeing the Presidency in 2022 and that many were frustrated when she filed her candidacy as a re-electionist candidate for mayor of Davao City. But personally, at that time our take was that she was biding her time in order to reassess her chances if she was to run for President.
She was also then weighing it over if she’d settle for the Vice Presidency and with whom she should run, so she would have greater chances of winning.
It was also our view then that Marcos, Jr. might have read what was in the mind of the then Davao City Mayor. That is, in the race to the Presidency she had to contend with big-name rivals. And in the Vice Presidential contest, the other contenders were relatively easier for her to beat.
So, Sara finally opted for the Vice Presidency, teaming up with Marcos Jr., who has a bigger political base in both the Ilocos Region and Central Luzon, Eastern Visayas, as well as in Metro Manila.
But did the VP’s teaming up with BBM help the latter win the Presidency, given that the vote advantage of the two against their rivals was exceptionally high? This question can only be accurately answered if anyone takes the tedious review of the votes gathered by the Vice President and Marcos, Jr. in the records of the Commission on Elections.
It is from the votes in each region gathered by the two top-tanking Philippine officials that can determine who helped whom – whether it is the VP helping the President, or the President helping his tandem.
Say, if in the Luzon regions, including MIMAROPA, PBBM carried Sara, so it was then candidate Marcos, Jr. who helped the VP. If in the entire Mindanao Island and the Central Visayas, both known as Sara’s bailiwicks, Marcos lagged behind the VP in votes, then the VP’s claim of securing for BBM the Presidency is a bit questionable.
But again, the Vice President appears fully convinced it was she who helped Marcos, Jr. win the Presidency. And she thinks that in helping him, she was largely responsible for installing a failed Presidency, so she feels it is her moral obligation to the Filipino people to apologize for her “wrong” decision.
The question, however, is whether or not the majority of the Filipinos – from the ordinary man on the streets up to those who are in the highest echelon of society – see the present government of the Philippines as the VP sees it – a non-performing President whose governance is without clear direction?
So far, the signs obtained are not exactly what is painted by the government detractors like VP Sara. Still, there have been no massive multi-sectoral rallies chastising the administration. The biggest that we have witnessed was the one initiated by the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC). But the religious group leaders organizing the rally made it clear that the rallyists were not demanding the ouster of the President but merely bringing to his attention the corruption happening in the government.
Even the much-ballyhooed “Trillion Pesos” mass actions did not end up as expected by the organizers, most of whom were groups allied with the administration critics. Even retired and active members of the military who were creating noise failed in their attempt to convince the men in uniform to withdraw support from the Commander-in-Chief.
Leaders of industry and big businesses appeared content with the administration’s policies. So is the labor sector.
Of course, we may be wrong in our personal appreciation of the country’s prevailing situation. The Vice President may be right.
But then, in painting a morbid picture of the country’s present condition under Marcos Jr., she has a strong personal motive. She is herself aiming for the Presidency in 2028. And by describing the present state of governance as wanting in direction and bringing the country to perdition, the VP is in the process of destroying whoever the President will field to succeed him.
So the VP is on with her ”offensive” much ahead of the official start of the electoral season in 2028. And apologizing to the Filipinos for helping install the incumbent President is one such offensive action.
