VICE PRESIDENT Sara Duterte boldly announced her plan to run for President of the Philippines come 2028 national elections.
Her announcement the other day was met with mixed reactions. Some political analysts call her move “strategic.” Given the present situation that the VP is into these days, her announcement could have been done after thorough consultation with her political, legal, and moral advisers.
But we are certain that the go-signal to make the announcement has only this objective. That is, to temper the heat that is brought about by the filing of four impeachment cases against the VP.
Clearly, the announcement gives Sara more ammunition to counter the impeachment cases even before these are referred to the House Justice Committee and later to the plenary for determination whether any of the four will be transmitted to the Senate for trial.
And why are we saying the VP’s announcement is giving her a thicker shield against her impeachment? Simple. She can strengthen to the maximum her claim of political harassment with any attempt of the accusers to have the complaint forwarded to the House Justice Committee.
And once the same is taken up by the plenary and forwarded to the Senate for trial the VP’s camp can shout to the heavens that the administration, using the Senate, is out to shut her out of the 2028 Presidential polls.
Her camp will exploit to the maximum the impeachment issue to gain the people’s sympathy thereby creating the image of the persecuted Vice President.
And if VP Sara gets exonerated by the Senate acting as the trial court – which is possible considering the present alignment – all the more that her candidacy gets a huge boost.
But of course her potential rivals, not necessarily the one backed by the administration, are not giving their minds a break in thinking of ways to shoot down any perceived advantage of the Vice President. And two years from now to 2028 still allow for a number of things to happen to shift the political balance.
Nonetheless, the message of the adage, “Early bird catches the worm” definitely still holds.
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In a social media post, former President Rodrigo R. Duterte, who is detained in a jail of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, is imploring the Filipinos to support her daughter Vice President Sara when she will be a candidate for President of the Philippines in 2028.
According to the Davaoeño former Philippine leader, his daughter is the only one who can save the Philippines from its destruction done by the present administration.
Based on the former leader’s claim, it appeared that the situation of the country is so serious that only by changing the incumbent President or rejecting whoever he endorses, the country be able to get back on its feet.
On the other hand, the former leader said in his post that even if he gets the opportunity to secure freedom, he will not go home to the Philippines while the country is still under the present administration. He said he fears for his life.
Of course, we would not be surprised if the former President believes it is VP Sara only who can “save” the country. After all, what is the former President a father for the VP?
Meanwhile, we still do not have any idea what the incumbent President FPRRD called “weak,” and his administration have done to any of his detractors – political enemies or journalists, or businessmen. So far we could not recall of any reported killed, maimed, or deprived of their rights to do business in the country.
The only ones we know who are in hiding are former Presidential spokesman Harry Roque and former Bureau of Jail Management head General Gerard Bantag.
