Will the Dutertes have their vengeance?

At the rate that the Marcoses and their allies have been tormenting the Dutertes, the former will need to ensure that the latter won’t have any chance to return to power because if they do, hell has no fury like the Dutertes scorned.

The Dutertes have consistently shown that they have zero tolerance for anyone who defies them, more so anyone who crosses them. We’ve seen this from how Rodrigo Duterte had threatened and bamboozled anyone who opposed him when he was president; how then Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte publicly mauled a court sheriff, and how impetuous she was with House representatives during the recent budget deliberations on her office; how current Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte had lashed out at his family’s detractors, and how Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte had scorching words for those who denied him access to pork barrel funds.

The Duterte genes simply have no tolerance for defiance and have an oversized propensity for vengeance. The genes have no doubt evolved and were nurtured to unruly growth during the years of the Dutertes lording it over Davao City, with every act of defiance crushed. It’s not difficult to imagine that in the minds of the Dutertes, the biggest defiance and the most serious treachery that they’ve experienced have been in the hands of the Marcoses. In their minds, the Marcoses are enormous ingrates: the Dutertes granted their dream of a Libingan ng mga Bayani burial for the Marcos patriarch, and Sara’s decision to give way to Ferdinand Marcos Jr. paved the way for the Marcoses’ return to Malacañang.

It’s also not difficult to imagine that the Dutertes must be raring to get back at the members of Congress for their ongoing multiple investigations: fleshing out Rodrigo Duterte’s links to extrajudicial killings during his bloody drug war; unearthing VP Sara’s illegal use of public funds as vice president and former education secretary; linking Davao City Rep. Duterte and Manases Carpio, husband of VP Sara, to a huge “shabu” smuggling episode during the Duterte presidency, and exposing the role of close Duterte allies in the many crimes attributed to Philippine offshore gaming operators.

The strong desire for revenge must surely extend to officials who have been helping dig out evidence against the Dutertes such as those from the Commission on Audit, the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Department of Education, among others. With the Dutertes’ appetite for revenge whetted, many government officials have staked their future, even their survival, on ensuring that this family won’t be able to return to power. For the Marcoses and the various officials helping them, the die is cast. There’s no turning back.

But how are the Marcoses and their allies shutting out the possibility of the Dutertes’ return to power? So far, the accusations and investigations are merely aimed at demolishing voters’ adulation of the Dutertes. Will these be enough? Will the Marcoses stop at these efforts?

There’s unpleasant news for the Marcoses. Merely linking the Dutertes to killings, corruption, China, and other irregularities, will not be enough. These issues were not enough ammunition for the “Pinklawan” forces, and they will not be enough for the Marcoses. These issues are middle class concerns that are not pivotal in the minds of the masses.

The gut issues that resonate the most with the masses are high food prices, the lack of jobs, and peace and order. The Marcoses should have their ear to the ground because even in their own Solid North bailiwick, some local politicians have been heard saying that they received better largesse during the Duterte years, while rural folk are complaining that food prices were lower and peace and order better during the previous administration.

The disappointment with the Marcos administration is made worse, no doubt, by the fact that so many local politicians spent their own funds to help President Marcos get elected and are expecting so much in return. Voters meanwhile are still banking on the promise of buying rice at P20 per kilo, and even a share of the Marcos wealth. Most likely, sentiments like these can explain why VP Sara continues to get high approval ratings (decreasing but still high), despite all that vilification.

If the Marcoses and their allies miscalculate their actions, three fate models await them should the Dutertes get back in power: the prison fate of former senator Leila De Lima, the asylum fate of former Iloilo City mayor Jed Mabilog, and a similar attempted assassination as had happened to former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, according to a self-confessed Duterte henchman. Will the Marcoses up the ante by filing nonbailable criminal charges against the Dutertes? Will VP Sara be impeached? Will they work to hasten the issuance of warrants of arrest by the International Criminal Court? Extra large popcorn, please!

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