These are politically interesting, even stupid, times. Let’s roll out how these evolving events come across, in no chronological order, to wit:

(1) Former President Rodrigo Duterte becomes the imminent subject of arrest and investigation by the International Criminal Court after FM Jr.’s subalterns presumably opened the door for this intervention by a “soft power” to run its course. DU30 is left without a choice unless he can summon a critical mass in the AFP, PNP, and the uniformed services to defect to his side and serve as cannon fodder, but that would be too unlikely.

(2) Vice President Sara Duterte, concurrently Secretary of Education, DU30’s daughter and “crown jewel,” was subjected to a congressional inquiry about her office’s confidential funds. The fact is her 2024 budget has been deprived of such funds while the incumbent President’s own discretionary dough remains intact.

(3) The political future of the Dutertes hangs in the balance unless the anti-Duterte stalwarts could clip only the tiger’s tail. The people, as the true sovereigns, could still save the day for DU30; however, stripped of power, he is, and Sara is bereft of confidential funds.

(4) A general wave of discordant voices plagued the House of Representatives and the Senate — inside out — thereby drawing the lines clear on what the present dispensation plans to do or not to do, one stride at a time. The “People’s Initiative” was a case of trial and error.

(5) The Cha-cha train ran at such speed with 12 percent of the general voter population and 3 percent of every legislative district on board — all promised a king’s largesse — supporting a bold and sinister political agenda. Never mind if the larger passenger population were left in the train station.

(6) As a result of a Fredericksonian “leverage and compromise,” the Senate poised itself as agreeable to deliberate a joint resolution drafted by the House of Representatives that would limit debate on amendments or revisions to the constitutional text to restrictive economic provisions only. That’s pretty much like allowing the camel’s nose inside the tent to cause untold chaos.

(7) Not a few foreign observers on global social media platforms described the ongoing political feud as akin to the “Game of Thrones.” Some obscenely described it as a “cocaine-fentanyl war” with young Marcos and old Duterte as the poster boys.

Further, keen observers called it the “proxy war between the US and China” represented by their national flagbearers. Still, others sensed a mad race by oligarchs or captains of industry as self-maximizing rent seekers. In the process, it made the country and its people a laughing stock and object of ridicule on the world stage.

(8) As the plot thickens on brand versus brand (i.e., “One Nation, One Opposition” and “Bagong Pilipinas”), conflicting versions of the “People’s Initiative,” one for extending term limits, another for the secession of Mindanao, have become virtual Trojan horses deceptively launched by rabid power brokers and kingmakers.

(9) What good would it be if one agreed to the secession of Mindanao if we were not under a federal system that would allow a state to secede from the nation?

(10) What good is it if everyone agreed on Charter change via a PI to allow Congress to form itself into a Constituent Assembly to effect amendments to the Constitution? If the Senate takes the bait — hook, line, and sinker — which could prevent “anarchy” or “gangsterism” if the House of Representatives turns the Congressional Joint Session into a numbers game?

Against this backdrop, there looms on our political horizon two main roads — one leading to reintegration and the other, God forbid, to disintegration of the body polity due to greed, craze for power, and totally unnationalistic and unpatriotic “collaboration” with colonial empires. How do we stand up to the threat when consequences may be an intergenerational issue?

We’re in for a rude awakening.