President Marcos as Sigmund Freud, not as Machiavelli— love is okay with him as a leader but he prefers to be feared more—is a good shrink. He senses the need for a catharsis as therapy for the seemingly self-destructing path his vice president is on or is moving forward.
The latest threat or treat, if you will, from the legendary woman politician vis-a-vis the impeachment trial in the Senate is blood bath . The number of the vice president allies in the Chamber has improved such that, at this time, there are those who shares her optimism and bravado.
Literally, blood bad conveys a spectre of massacre, blood letting or bloodshed as if some people will have to be offered on the altar of political correctness. Figuratively, the equivalent is just as unpleasant if not gruesome in its implications.
Hell hath no fury, , it’s been said, like a woman scorned.
The President knows too well where it’s coming from: bad blood. The apoplectic remark, if not apocalyptic, from the vice president is a direct result of a strained relationship with the President, the First Lady and Speaker of the House, the famous cousin. The scenario in mind is like somebody ready to inflict collateral damage on her perceived enemies, even the nation; as part of the objective. Recklessness is subliminal.
So, the offer today from the President, in the light of his vice president apparent violent intention, and the trashing of the administration senatorial bets in Mindanao is nothing less than an offer of peace or reconciliation.
In his last interview, the President shuns conflict as well as politics in his leadership,. He confesses to wanting to have more friends to help him solve the country’s ‘ills. The vice president’s latest tirade is a direct reproach to his plan.
Given what has happened and what has been said the President needs to change his ways, too, according to a senator elect who’s been in politics for decades. He needs to be tough, Senator-elect Ping Lacson said by way of an unsolicited advice. His kindness has been mistaken for weakness. He needs an enforcer to help him do the job.
Has the President reached the point of being a lameduck as some political pundits suggest? If a thing quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, he must be a duck, according to the President’s revered legal adviser who is routinely credited for the political adage.
IN what terms will the Duterte accept the President’s peace offering to prevent what are potentially damaging blood bath ramifications?
First and foremost, there is the arrest of the former president claimed by his family and supporters as patently illegal, notwithstanding legal arguments to the contrary. Even now, the repeated call is for his return from The Hague, a shot at moon. It is inconceivable that the President will work out for his predecessor release with loosing his face, among others, both in the international arena and at home.
The former president is accused in the International Criminal Court (ICC) of crime against humanity over the former war on drugs that wasted anywhere between 6,000 to 30,000 lives,mostly from the poor and marginalized.
The President has lately , indirectly criticized the war drugs of his predecessor by ordering law enforcers to respect human rights at all times, which is the main reason for the ICC case against the former president.
Based on the opinion of filipino lawyers representing the victims of drug war in the ICC,the return of the former president to his homeland is a pipedream not happening anytime soon. So far, the defense team of the suspect has yet achieve anything concrete from the request to inhibit the judges and ICC’s alleged lack of jurisdiction.
The most objective estimate is for the former president to stay under custody in The Hague for at least 10 years or until the cows come home. For the President, this may no longer be negotiable. IN other words, all bets are off.
The only conceivable pragmatic offering on the peace table would be the forthcoming impeachment trial in July. There are certain possibilities on the horizon. One of them is a change in Senate leadership. Which could only lead to another possibility, and that will be the acquittal of the vice president. Numbers are important: the vice president needs only nine senators who should vote in her favor; 16 to convict.
The shortest distance between two points is the straight line. The president may consent with the mathematical formula: go for the smaller number and call it quits. All is well that ends well.
But the President cannot build the plane and still fly it. There could be casualties in the process of building or flying it. There is the House of Representatives whose select members will form the prosecution. While the impeachment trial is a political one, it is also a judicial. Both the prosecuting legislators and the senators sitting as judges are bound by the rule of law.
While the vice president and her lawyers are confident about her case, there are legal luminaries who caution them against such optimism, even hubris. The bottom line are the pieces of evidence to be presented during the trial which cannot be ignored. It should be as riveting as a huge telenovela nobody can’t miss.
One simple reminder is that the vice president once threatened the President, the First Lady and the Speaker of the House on TV. Then, there are the alleged fake names used for liquidating contingent funds. Two members of the prosecution team are veteran lawyers known for integrity and principles. Three senators from the real opposition will surely give the moral support at very least.
Offhand, the President’s overture for reconciliation under the current circumstances is dicey and batty.
