In the land of the blind, the one=eyed is king.
He used to be the king of the jungle, the fearsome predator who, the unbridled narratives show ,preyed on the poor, the weak and the helpless in the now infamous war against drugs. Finally, the long arm of the law stretched from a thousand miles away and caught him virtually flatfooted and is now in custody in an international court.
The game changer came from The Hague, the land used to be known as the land of noble hunters and is better known as the special place where special people are tried , mostly for crimes against humanity. And it took the son of a former dictator, ironically, to bring a predecessor and former political ally to the special place to bring justice to the thousands of lives wasted in the former’s war on drugs.
He is still fearsome ,even from afar, but not as formidable behind bars where the threat of his existence could only muster is the annoying protest of his allies and trolls here and there, and getting the ire of some foreign governments.
Still, he is safer ,or people who still tremble at his name, feel that way.
In fact. the better news is, his former kingdom is now admittedly in shambles, not yet in rubbles but close to. It’s now more like a headless chicken, according to a deeply disappointed senator ally who came home from The Hague, empty handed—without the former president and the bigger-than-life clout that used to draw crowds. Now, they need more resources in his absence to attract the same crowd to fill the campaign venues. There’s nothing like his jokes, interpreted literally or figuratively.
Stats tell the gruesome tale. Death from a minimum of 6,000 to a maximum of 30,000 lives lost in the war on drugs. Whether it’s official or non-official, that’s impossible to prove, according to the vice president- lawyer, without the names of the victims attached to the heinous accusation. It can be simply called “idiocy” or non compos mentis, so the wide-eyed smirk goes.
On that note, the vice president believes her father and former president will be set free. His lead counsel also predicts he will be home before the trial is supposed to start in September this year. It rhymes with an old, love song;also poetic.
The lawyers for the victims of extrajudicial killings in the former president’s time are not discouraged by the daughter’s obvious put down or high hopes about her legal view. The fact that he is now in custody has already overruled their contention of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. The thing speaks for itself, so lawyers would say. It was the ICC warrant of arrest that made it possible for the Interpol or the Marcos government to bring him to the hunters’ land.
If the other side’s analysis is to be believed, it would take years before the former president could come home as his allies and supporters deeply wish, It could be from as early as 8 years or as late as 30 years from now. Either way, the former president could be older then and, given his physical condition now, more fragile. It’s an optimism.
The kingdom of the headless chicken is now at risk more than ever. The political fallout is already apparent with the president’s senator-sister getting the ba cklash from either or both political parties reaction to her position on the arrest of the former president or the hypocritical stance as read by the former president’s people reading of it. It’s a no-win position and the survey shows the current Senate probe isn’t working in her favor. In fact, the senator appears to be on losing side as polls revealed. The senator must wake up to use the survey as a lamp unto her feet or hang on to it like drunkard uses the lamppost for support.
The vice president’s impeachment trial is getting closer by the day, notwithstanding the Senate president’s perceived delaying tactic as fellow legislators and Constitutional expert suggest. The prosecution, in the meantime, is unearthing new evidence to support its allegation on public betrayal of public and graft and corruption against the office of the vice president. And they’re shadow- boxing already.
Could 2025 be the former president’s last hurrah? It’s almost likely given the former president’s legal status and his daughter’s legal issue. They are both walking on the brink. A fall by either or both could spell the end of an era.
King Lear of Shakespeare was luckier in that he had three daughters upon which to divide his kingdom. The former president has only two daughter to unburden himself of cares and responsibilities in his old age : one is still too young, the other facing a political impeachment to survive that conveys a darker purpose.
There’s one pragmatic way out of the impeachment for the vice president and that is to resign the post. That woul d mean no disqualification from public office. That’s basically looking forward to 2028 with a moist eye where she would be a viable player for the presidency. That’s saving a headless chicken from dying and living to the fable that politics is the art of the possible.
Who knows all things would be, once again, well ,after all, to the former alliance between her and the president. All is well that ends well. It’s a wish that is fervently nurtured in a nation so polarized politically with the war on drugs that will be decisively ruled in the land where noble hunters fairly ruled once. Perhaps once again.
