Demolishing Inday Sara Duterte: the VP needs a more competent comms team and smarter “influencers”

I’m now 50% convinced that there’s an active effort to undermine not only the Vice-President but the Duterte brand in an effort to ensure that their political brand is rendered inutile by painting them as corrupt and traitors to the country. I was wondering how and why Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner Jr would make a statement that there is an active destabilization plot against the administration of President Bongbong Marcos. But the parroting of the same line by inauspicious individuals on social media has confirmed that Brawner didn’t act on his own. It was scripted.

It’s not hard to imagine that behind all of these is Uncle Sam, who isn’t willing to relinquish the “gains” it has made with the country’s pivot back to the US. The Americans have grand plans for the region in light of its looming defeat in Ukraine.Its president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been abandoned as a lost cause. It remains to be seen what his fate will be considering Russia isn’t willing to negotiate peace yet. But for the most part, there is no fight left in Zelensky and the Ukraine armed forces. The Americans are now looking at China, which it views as the bigger threat compared to Russia.

This is probably what Duterte foresaw when he made the statement about Marcos being a weak leader and why he wanted Inday to either run for president or be Bong Go’s running mate. He meant to continue what he started and prevent the Marcoses from taking control of the country back. But that didn’t happen so now, Vice President Inday Sara Duterte has to lie on the bed she made for herself.

Duterte rarely makes an uncalculated move. At this point, he knows that he and his daughter don’t have the financial wherewithal to organize an opposition against the Marcoses. Not even GMA joining them would their chances improve. The politicians know better also because the administration allies are the primary beneficiaries of largesse in terms of projects for their constituents. What we find ourselves in now is a democracy without an opposition because the traditional opposition has been stupid to the point that the people wouldn’t want to be caught dead on their side.

The opposition is still hoping that their old strategy will work but with a twist; they are counting on seeing Marcos throw the old man under the bus and feed him to the International Criminal Court (ICC). If this happens, all hell will break loose and we might see a genuine destabilization plot gain popular support. But Marcos isn’t stupid. The 2025 election will be a crucial bellwether event for the administration. It will determine their chances for 2028 with the caveat that a so-so performance in 2025 will most likely result in the adoption of an alternative means to get Marcos’s anointed elected in 2028 for the continued subservience to Uncle Sam.

The wildcard in the Marcos camp is the president’s sister Senator Imee Marcos-Manotoc. She is family but she’s also the type who can go against the family decision given that she has given in to their wishes of seeing the only son become president like their father.

For now, Inday is in limbo between the Devil and the deep blue sea. While the president doesn’t have animosity against her, he still isn’t doing anything to stop the ongoing demolition job against her. But this is the natural consequence of going against the advise of one who is wiser and more experienced in politics.

For now, Inday has to grin and bear it but she definitely has to get better people around her and exert the utmost effort to address the education crisis. This is the only way she can prove to her supporters that she is capable of being her father’s successor.