The other day former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte refuted the statement of his own daughter Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio that he and brothers Congressman Polong and Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte are all “rearing to run for the Senate come May 2025 midterm elections.” The Vice President even came out with a more politically-loaded advancer that Mayor Baste would be eyeing for the Presidency in 2028, a position she has long been expected to contest herself.
The Vice President’s “disclosure” immediately created a stir in the ranks of the administration and those groups that are known strongly anti-Sara’s person and her ambition to become the next President. From the reactions made it seems the Sara statement succeeded in making the Duterte nemesis appear to be running scared.
The former President for his part did exactly his role in what could be a scheme trademark of Duterte’s politics. That is, create scenarios that will muddle certain situation but later come up with views or positions that are normally contradictory to the earlier created scenarios.
The former Chief Executive did this strategy when he ran for President in the 2016 national elections. He made people who were committed to support his bid, and those who also aspired for the same highest post of the land believe that he was not any more interested in the Presidency. Duterte, the patriarch, refused to file his certificate of candidacy up to the filing deadline. Many were already losing hope then that their man will become a candidate.
However, shortly before the day that the deadline for substitution came Martin Dino who deliberately created errors in his certificate of candidacy, withdrew. Immediately the former President filed his certificate of candidacy as Dino’s substitute.
In the present “script” the cast in the well-orchestrated political play is widened with the addition of the Vice President and her two brothers. The VP claiming that she is heeding the advice of her mother says she will run for Davao City Mayor and her two brothers and father will be the ones running for national elective positions, specifically that of Senator.
The former President, astute a politician as always, did not bother to give comment on the statement of the Vice President. He was intriguingly silent for a good one week. And he let the administration and its barkers continue haranguing against him and his group with the vilest words they can muster.
Now after several days and with the harshness of the attacks against him and his group waning due to the seeming loss of effectiveness of the “ammunition” used, here comes the former President saying that he is done with politics and he is not running for senator because he is old. He literally tell the people it is up to them to believe what VP Sara said as he is not aware how the VP came up with her claim of his and her brothers’ planned run.
If this is not part of a well-thought of and organized strategy to attain the final political objective of the Duterte camp, what does the former President’s contradictory statement make of his daughter VP Sara’s “disclosure” of a 3 Duterte running for the Senate in 2025? And what does it make of the Vice President’s person?
We are certain that the administration’s paid hacks – vloggers more specifically – will use the elder Duterte’s apparent denial of his daughter’s statement to the hill.
But whether this seeming ambivalence would be effective ammunition to fire up the attacks on the former President that is now slowly losing steam the people will only surely know in the days to come.
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Still on the former President. In yet another statement he said that he knows the whereabouts of his friend Kingdom of Jesus Christ Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy. The religious leader has been able to dodge law enforcers who were tracking him after he chose to become fugitive from the law.
FP Duterte claimed in that television interview that since his friend Quiboloy would not surrender to the authorities in spite of his advice, he said he advised him to just make good his hiding to avoid being captured.
Of course the lawyer that the President is, he never mentioned even a single word that could be interpreted that he is directly harboring the fugitive sect leader.
He merely said that he knows where his friend is. As to how the law enforcers could find Quiboly, it is all up to them. Or so he said to that effect.
Now, will anyone have the guts to sue the former President for the crime of obstructing justice by harboring a person wanted by the law?
Certainly the former President could not be accused of harboring a criminal because the Pastor is still a suspect of crimes he allegedly committed. And he will remain so while his guilt is still to be proven in the courts.
Indeed the former President is not only an astute politician but a shrewd lawyer par excellence; a cleverness nurtured by his serious discernment of legal issues brought about by his years of service as a prosecutor.
The immediate past Chief Executive appears to be far from beaten in that department.
