The die is cast

A few days ago, on 19 June to be exact, Vice President Sara Duterte gave up her stint as Secretary at the Department of Education (DepEd) and also as Vice Chair of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, which ended her membership in the Marcos Cabinet.

As had been expected from the very start, the die is cast for the formal dissolution of the tactical alliance called the UniTeam that was formed for the 2021 presidential election.

Why then Mayor Sara, as the frontrunner in the pre-election period, gave way to the son of the first Marcos in Malacañang remains an unanswered question, if not a sorrowful mystery.

If we trace the events, since both Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the lady Duterte assumed their respective offices, the distrust between the two camps and their supporters was pretty flagrant. Notable was the insinuation that both sides were working to destabilize each other. Of course, there are no “receipts.”

Rapport between their respective supporters never existed. What was widely known was that the Duterte camp was working to destabilize the Marcos Jr. administration.

On the other hand, the Marcos camp led by Speaker Martin Romualdez, eyeing to succeed his cousin in 2028, denied the VP and DepEd Secretary her confidential funds and was behind the campaign to tarnish the VP’s image.

President Marcos appeared to not be involved in the animosity but his wife, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, spoke openly, negatively, of the Vice President.

Now, let’s share how our DAILY TRIBUNE readers see the huge political development.

Mr. T. Peralta thinks “she was pressured to resign because her father is opposing PBBM. That she isn’t competent to lead the DepEd. That the VP doesn’t support PBBM’s anti-China policy on the WPS and the ICC effort regarding PRRD.”

On the other hand, Atty. D.D. says it was “high time, I guess it will be the start of a political debacle of BBM.”

“No more unity and it is possible that the VP got irritated with the fake news generated by the other camp that FPRRD was dead,” according to Mr. T. Alcantara.

Mr D.D. forwarded some comments on his page. “Fighting Sara is like fighting a windwill.” “Open fire, offensive, not defensive.” “FL-BBM should have allowed Sara to rot at DepEd with its gargantuan internal problems!”

Lawyer WS noted that “VP Sara isn’t comfortable anymore with the First Lady.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Ronnie Villa said, “Resignation is correct so that the Dutertistas can move now.”

With this expected political development, the Maisug Movement might instantly swell nationwide despite the obvious suppression of the right to free assembly by sycophantic LGU officials.

We cannot discount the possible massing of over two million Quiboloy followers plus the massive Dutertistas nationwide. I hear a lot now that the resignation of Sara at DepEd may have cast the die and EDSA Quatro (EQ) may not be wishful thinking as it could be the ultimate consequence of the Marcos -Duterte inevitable split.

q q q

Our government should decide to ban Tiktok due to security risks the China app presents to our country. Well, honestly, not just Tiktok but POGOs too. Aside from security concerns, Tiktok wastes a lot of our kababayan’s productive hours. And while drinking sessions and gambling were previously the preoccupation of the jobless, now it’s Tiktok.

Many readers also come to me to encourage our business and government people to do away with Imperial China’s “Zoom.” Some countries have already imposed total or partial bans on TikTok due to similar concerns.

We think Google Meet is more secure and safer aside from having better audio and video quality. Now’s the time to act in the face of the bullying and occupation of our maritime seas and EEZ in the WPS by China.

For comments, tweet billy andal, email andalbilly@yahoo.com and subscribe to The Bridge @DAILY TRIBUNE and FB page.