By Marcos C. Mordeno
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews) – Vice President Sara Duterte’s recent outburst – a meltdown, according to others – can only be interpreted as a desperate measure against mounting efforts by the House of Representatives to unearth more facts regarding her confidential/intelligence funds (CIF). Most telling was her declaration that she has tasked somebody to kill the President, the First Lady and House Speaker Martin Romualdez III if she gets killed.
The claim that she is the target of an assassination, no matter how unfounded, and portraying herself as a victim of political persecution was meant to elicit sympathy and is a subtle call to arms to her supporters. But, of course, the real purpose is to distract attention away from the subject of the House committee investigation – the alleged misuse of her CIF.
What did Duterte’s rant achieve? It may not have made President Bongbong Marcos and his cousin Romualdez look good, but it has made the Vice President look bad, if not worse. Forget the diehard supporters, they will stick with her and her Palace ambition.
Duterte’s hysterics only reinforced perceptions that she had abused and misused her CIF, else, why not just respond to the allegations in an unequivocal manner? This is a logical outcome given her evasiveness on the issue and the dubious documents obtained so far by the House committee.
Besides, critics and opponents are now capitalizing on her latest outburst as symptomatic of a genetic predilection for blood and vengeance. It did not help that her father, ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, recently faced a probe by the House quad committee to answer allegations that he encouraged extrajudicial killings in his administration’s “war on drugs” through financial rewards.
The Vice President made it clear that what she said – the order to kill the President, the First Lady and the House Speaker if she gets killed – was no joke. If that was really the case, imagine what she would do to her opponents and critics if she runs and wins in 2028 as President. It’s a chilling scenario.
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. H. Marcos C. Mordeno can be reached at hmcmordeno@gmail.com).
