ISAID i t before, and I will say it again. Former president Rodrigo Duterte and, to some extent, his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte, have grossly overestimated the power of the Duterte brand. He singlehandedly gave the dominant political assembly of traditional politicians in

the House of Representatives the upper hand. And now, even members of the progressive Makabayan bloc appear to be headed for some kind of modus vivendi with the forces loyal to Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez if only to infuriate the former president further.

It was a fatal miscalculation for Rodrigo Duterte to take a path that led to a head-on collision with the House of Representatives. He was probably thinking that when he won in 2016, he did not have many allies in Congress. That is partly true, but he also did not have enemies in the House then. He forgets that in politics, alliances are important, and not having any is an impediment, but having a lot of enemies would be more fatal. I am not exactly sure who the advisers and political communication strategists of the Dutertes are, but whoever they are, one thing is certain. They are stuck to the 2016 playbook of capitalizing on the imagined strength of Rodrigo Duterte’s novelty and his gift for making the political class squirm with his cursing and verbal calisthenics. They forgot that this is 2023. He no longer has the presidential bully pulpit at his disposal. And there are now other political personalities with their own ambitions raring to oppose him, who are not from the ranks of the traditional political opposition that he was able to intimidate.

And now, we are standing witness to the play of words and strategies that, for all intents and purposes, are mere political maneuvers designed to impress on the Dutertes that 2023 is now a different ball game. It is all talk for now. This deployment of impeaching Vice President Sara is obviously empty posturing. It is even obvious that it is appropriated more by the former president to fuel his threats of running for higher office, maybe in the Senate if his daughter is impeached, instead of being a serious move by the House majority. I even see it as bait to taunt the former president into continuing to make statements that are hurting his brand even more.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has already declared that he will not support an impeachment move. He was actually well-advised, considering that it can derail his government’s agenda, more so now that several surveys have indicated an economy on the rebound, with self-perceived hunger and poverty declining in the third quarter. But more than this, it would be foolish to support an impeachment move whose grounds may very well implead him as well. We should remind people that the main ground for the impeachment of VP Duterte would be the unconstitutional transfer of funds from the savings of the Office of the President into the confidential funds of VP Duterte’s office, an item that was non-existent in its 2022 budget, and thus would render such transfer as violating the provision that allowed only an augmentation. Thus, Sara Duterte cannot be impeached for an act that also involved the President, who, in fact, was the one who approved such an unconstitutional transfer.

I would have advised former president Duterte to simply ignore the talks of impeachment because glorifying it would be playing into the trap of taking seriously something that is all designed to irritate and taunt him simply. And yet, he did not just react. He even rode on the narrative and owned it. And now, instead of a principled leader, what we have is the image of an overprotective stage father ready to do battle with anyone who dares harm his daughter. This is a move that does not, in fact, benefit his daughter politically, for it suggests that she is not strong enough to fight her own battles. It is ironic that this would come from a man who, during the campaign, insinuated that Bongbong Marcos was not strong enough to become president.

The diehard Duterte supporters celebrate the seeming unified stance of the Dutertes, particularly rendered stronger when Sara Duterte came out to vow full support to her father, as they contrast this with the disunity among the Marcoses with Sen. Maria Imelda Josefa “Imee” Marcos often taking the side of the Dutertes, as she sometimes clashes with her brother on some policy issues. And yet, seen in a different light, a united Duterte family would reveal the danger of a political dynasty that is united less to promote the common good and more to protect its own interests.

The former president may indeed run for the Senate. That is very much well within his right. But being just one out of 24 political egos may not give him the same power that he wielded when he was president. Besides, he has to buck the headwinds of running in a national race after he offended so many members of Congress, whom he called rotten, whose ground support he would need to convert his national prominence to actual votes.

And now, several of its members have filed a resolution to allow the International Criminal Court (ICC) to enter our country and investigate the former president for his alleged crimes against humanity in relation to his war on drugs. What is strange is that the Department of Justice has cryptically noted that the House resolution “needs serious study” after outrightly dismissing the idea in the past, saying it would be an assault on our sovereignty. The President maintained his call to respect our sovereignty without clashing with the House, in stark contrast to the vice president who openly criticized the House.

What is stranger is when President Marcos insinuated that he was seriously considering the idea for the country to rejoin the ICC. Meanwhile, former senator Leila de Lima, Rodrigo Duterte’s nemesis, now free on bail, has thanked Marcos for not intervening in the natural course of justice.