In the 2022 presidential elections, Bongbong succeeded in wooing Sara to be his running mate, thus hitting two birds with one stone, as he not only removed a great obstacle to his candidacy for president, considering that Sara was also being groomed for the same position.
With Sara as his running mate, Bongbong was able to ride on the influence and popularity of the Dutertes with Southern voters. Their tandem was described by the media as a “marriage of convenience.” Sara, being younger than Bongbong, would likely be the latter’s successor for president in 2028. Thus, the two offsprings of presidents formed the Uniteam.
Bongbong and Sara acted so effectively. They were like a love-team exchanging “i love you” remarks on the campaign trail and so they won by a landslide. The history of the Marcos dictatorship and the extrajudicial killings of Duterte did not sit well with the opposition and supporters of the Liberal Party, but the very short memory of “materialistic” voters also influenced the result.
The Bongbong-Sara honeymoon had a good start, with PBBM designating VP Sara as the secretary of the department of education and a hefty budget of over 2 billion pesos, including an intelligence fund and security personnel of more than 400 men.
VP Sara’s predecessor, VP Leni Robredo, was given a budget of 712 million pesos, a “measly sum” compared to the yearly budget of billions of pesos appropriated to VP Sara. VP Leni only required a security detail of 78 men as compared to the “battalions” detailed to secure the life of VP Sara.
The latter aimed for the défense secretary portfolio, which PBBM denied her. Soon, cracks in their honeymoon started to show.
PBBM andVP Sara had conflicting policy issues, such as on how to address the West Philippine Sea conflict with China; the reopening of peace talks with Communist rebels; the removal of Duterte allies by PBBM from some positions of power; releasing on bail former Sen. Leila Delima from her almost 7-year imprisonment, among others. Then there was this effort by PBBM to change the Philippine Constitution to remove restrictions that limit foreign investments which the Duterte camp suspected was a ploy to switch the country to a parliamentary system and keep Marcos in power.
A rally was held in Davao City against this move for charter change where Digong spoke and stated that Bongbong was high on drugs (“bangag”), and VP Sara was seen laughing at such remarks. This incident did not sit well with FL Liza who attacked Sara Sara for the laughing gesture, which offended her. From then on, VP Sara and FL Liza ignored each other at functions where they were seated together.
Former president Digong had declared that PBBM was under the drug watch list of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the NBI to which accusation PBBM denied and retorted that PP Digong is suffering from the long-term effects of continued use of fentanyl, short of accusing him of being a drug addict as well.
VP Sara also had issues with PBBM’s cousin, House Speaker Romualdez when the lower house denied VP Sara’s request for a P650 million confidential funds. Then PBBM stated that he was studying the possibility of rejoining the International Criminal Court (ICC). It will be recalled that Digong is under investigation by the ICC for human rights violations in relation to his war on drugs where he was known to have employed extrajudicial killings (EJKs). Soon, the House of Representatives started an investigation on the extrajudicial killings during the Duterte administration.
PP Digong floated the idea of a military coup to unseat PBBM and the possible secession of Mindanao. But the military commented that it continues its allegiance to the Constitution and the duly constituted authorities.
We have yet to see if the Duterte magic could hold its spell on Mindanao and move the Mindanaoans to support a secession. As the drama continues to unfold, VP Sara will be facing impeachment complaints filed before the Lower House following the investigations on her alleged misuse or abuse in the disbursement of her billions of confidential funds, her threats against PBBM, FL Liza and Speaker Martin Romualdez, including her alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings.
Now, the people eagerly await the unfolding of the impeachment episode where they expect more mud to be thrown by VP Sara on how confidential funds are used and abused by lawmakers and top government officials… abangan ang susunod na kabanata!
