UNDER the Constitution, the vice president has no well-defined duties except to succeed the president should a presidential vacancy ever arise. Vice President Sara Duterte has just resigned her Cabinet post and has all the time in the world to sit around waiting to succeed President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Romualdez Marcos Jr. (BBM). However, given BBM's state of health, there seems no chance of this happening before 2028. She faces the prospect of doing nothing significant, so some people close to her are wishing she would reinvent herself.

The old Liberal Party (LP), which ran the biggest losing candidate against BBM in 2022, was quick to reject the suggestion that Sara become the new opposition leader. Although now marginalized, the LP wants to anoint one of its own as opposition chief. That should not affect Sara's position as vice president, nor the desire of other parties to choose their own opposition head. But whether or not Sara ends as opposition head, the question is, can she possibly reinvent herself?