THE incessant attacks on the Dutertes have reached a tipping point. They are at a political crossroads.
Will they maintain their silence while being subjected to a barrage of merciless and unconstitutional incursion on their rights by their political foes, or will they fight back and engineer the comeuppance of their enemies? Vice President Sara Duterte has started to hit back at her inquisitors in Congress.
Her father has yet to unleash the smoldering rage in him triggered by his legacies being squandered and the sight of a beloved daughter being savagely treated by his former allies, whom he had treated fairly and generously despite their opposition to him in his 2016 presidential campaign.
The two other Dutertes are quietly up in arms against the demolition job being done on them.
Will they use this coming election as a weapon to stop this political siege of their family?
As of this writing (Oct. 5, 2024), the three Dutertes, namely former president Rodrigo Duterte, Davao 1st District Rep. Paolo "Pulong" Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sebastian "Baste" Duterte, have yet to file their certificates of candidacy for any national or local position.
Quo vadis, Dutertes?
Given that the perennial detractors and political enemies, who were rabid political allies at the height of the Duterte presidency, who have turned their backs on him when he stepped down as president — and are now shamelessly and relentlessly besmirching his character and throwing baseless accusations against him and his daughter, VP Sara, and are relentless in executing their demolition job against them, it is inevitable to ask: Will the Dutertes rise to the challenge and mount wise, strategic and fearless countermoves against these forces of darkness engulfing them?
VP Sara, who is a heartbeat away from the presidency, has not been spared by the malicious, vicious assault on their persons. She must be destroyed at all costs, as she is the immediate stumbling block to the insatiable obsession of those who want to stay in power indefinitely — and who have their eyes on the presidency in 2028.
With the leftist representatives in the lower house, who obviously are moving under the direction of the political broker and fund dispenser, about to file the impeachment charge against VP Sara to remove her from office, it is a certainty that the removal process will come to pass despite its glaring unconstitutionality.
Without an elective position, the elder Duterte is powerless.
Reduced to being a plain citizen after his term ended, his nemeses did not waste time throwing the kitchen sink at him.
While his popularity and trust ratings remain consistently high despite his departure from office, it is undeniable that against those behind the orchestrated attacks on his person who wields political power, he is powerless unless he gets out of retirement and reclaims through the constitutional process a mandate that will clothe him with power and slug it out with those fatuous, analphabetic, and hypocritical adversaries — who think their positions of authority can hide their intellectual bankruptcy and nefarious activities.
People long for Duterte brand of leadership
Duterte has two options. He can run for senator. Credible surveys place him as a sure winner in the Senate race. Majority of the electorate hunger for his brand of leadership. They thirst for the political will he exhibited in his stint as Davao City mayor and 16th President of the Republic, where his rule saw the dismantling of the illegal drug apparatus and syndicates. The drug lords and pushers were pursued, arrested, prosecuted and clamped in jail while the drug addicts stopped their addiction even as others were rehabilitated.
Those who resisted arrest and used violence against the law enforcers were neutralized, applying the law on self-defense.
Criminals scampered away, and the crime rate plummeted. The communist terrorist rebels were on the run.
Corruption was reduced to the barest minimum as he fired government officials with a whiff of corruption, including members of his Cabinet. Rapacious businessmen and tax evaders mended their ways and started paying their taxes.
The economy was good with the country's credit rating remaining high. Infrastructure projects mushroomed.
His correct handling of the pandemic saved thousands of lives. OFWs were taken care of. The spiraling prices of basic commodities were arrested, with big-time smugglers putting a stop to their illegal activities.
Being a lawyer, Duterte will be an asset to the Senate — where majority of the current members are nonlawyers, whose performance in the committee hearings is dismal and vexing as they exhibit their ignorance of parliamentary procedure as well as of the constitutional rights of resource persons.
He could also show the senators how to conduct an inquiry properly in aid of legislation and not the obnoxious inquisition done by them.
Or Duterte can reclaim his seat as Davao City mayor to halt the ambitious attempt of an ingrate former Cabinet member who is lusting to wrest the mayorship from Mayor Baste in consideration of an eye-popping amount of campaign funds.
In either case, Duterte holding a position of power would be a formidable adversary that cannot be easily trampled upon, and his political antagonists will surely not risk messing with him.
If Duterte does run for mayor, and he will surely win, his vice mayor would most probably be his son,
Mayor Baste — unless the latter is persuaded to join the Senate race. A Duterte in the upper chamber can be a foil to any move by the opposing camp to conduct investigations geared toward the destruction of his father and his siblings.
Congressman Pulong, if he runs for reelection as Davao representative, with no strong rival in sight, will undoubtedly be a runaway winner.
If he joins the Senate race, with his father and brother gunning for different elective positions, being a Duterte will get him the nod of the electorate.
Duterte victory changes political landscape
The Dutertes winning the midterm elections will herald the rebirth of the movement that catapulted the patriarch to the presidency. It will trigger a resurgence of the millions of followers who feel swindled by the promise of continuing the Duterte legacy and enraged by the rude, harsh and crude treatment of VP Sara by the power holders.
This sea of humanity will be the unstoppable force that will spark the powerful winds of change that will radically alter the political landscape.