Segundo E Romero
23 hrs ·
Rodrigo Duterte is heartbroken.
He did not see it coming. In encouraging his alter egos to act like him, Pantaleon Alvarez irked Sara Duterte. Sara Duterte staged a coup against Alvarez, using Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as the prying tool.
The timing of the Speakership grab was bad -- it made Duterte look like a flabby, bungling, strongman who was only pretending to be in control. He was insulted and disrespected by people close to him. But still he acquiesced to the speakership changeover to Ma'am Gloria.
Everybody has been looking at Sara as some sort of heir apparent. As if Lola Imee's fawning moves are politically significant. They are looking at the wrong ball. Gloria took no time in shooting down Rodrigo Duterte's pet projects. She immediately said she preferred separate voting in a Constituent Assembly for proposing Constitutional change. Very deft, but very powerful message -- federalism is dead. No way the Senate will vote for federalism.
Dominguez, Pernia, and Lorenzana then went public with their view that federalism at this time is bad for the country. Still no slap on the wrist from the President.
So political antennas on top of both brilliant and empty politicos sense the shift in the wind. The cash-based budget, pushed by Rodrigo Duterte's economic managers headed by Benjamin Diokno, is rebuffed in the House, which suspended budget hearings. (It looks to me like a symbolic act similar to the Katipuneros tearing up their cedulas.) Spokesman Harry Roque is right, saying in effect: "Ganun? Nagpalit lang ng leadership sa House naglaho na ang dating supporta sa budget ng Presidente?"
Meantime, the antennas on top of both brilliant and empty economic and business leaders have impelled them to come out in force in media press releases opposing the federalism project. The magic of Duterte is fast eroding. (DU30 is now looking more like "Do30" months.)
So, Rodrigo Duterte is heartbroken, publicly expressing his exasperation at how, like cancer, drugs and corruption spread so virulently the moment he attacked them in his vociferous but dubious style.
Yet, there is still some fight in the tired, old man. He insists, lamely, that the empty magnetic lifters may not have contained shabu, chastising his PDEA people for making that premature conclusion. Of course, he is telling us that the drug sniffing dogs were telling a lie when they sat on the lifters.
If I were to be funny, I would now have to say I worry for the dogs, and for Mocha Uson, who could plausibly be blamed for the unfortunate turn of events. But my take is, political resilience comes in small packages with neck braces.