Sara says ‘hi’ to Leni

Whoever set up the intriguing political tableau last Friday of Vice President Sara Duterte connecting and supposedly having an animated interaction with former Vice President Leni Robredo deserves the title of astute political movie producer.

Undoubtedly, the Leni-Sara impromptu meeting in Naga City during the Penafrancia festival was an unabashed political movie. A political movie possibly involving carefully planned political stagecraft which, after some thoughtful pause, had all to do with political optics.

By the way, it’s that time of year again when we should be reacquainting ourselves with political optics, particularly since in a few weeks the 2025 election gates open.

Soon, if not already, we’ll be inundated and marinated in political optics.

And nothing better portends that coming ugliness than the tarpaulins sporting photoshopped mugs of politicians magically transforming them into hunky dudes and luscious babes worthy of a Vivamax movie.

Anyway, as a political buzzword, “optics” in a political context, says Merriam-Webster, “conveys a concern about the public’s perception of a person, decision, or actions, as opposed to that thing’s reality.”

In politics, of course, physical appearance matters and politicians obsessing over how they look isn’t new or strange.

But the “optics” of the Leni-Sara meeting isn’t about physical appearances.

Instead, the context of “optics” here is about manipulating the public’s perception of the meeting once the public learned about it.

Before anything else, however, when people who are addicted to politics talk about “optics” they mean how something will look at first glance, without the public necessarily knowing the full story.

Put another way, it means that it isn’t really what’s going on that’s important — it’s what appears to be going on.

As far as what’s been reported of the Leni-Sara meeting, the bare facts are that both indeed met and that both said the “casual” meeting was personal and social and of no political import.

Robredo’s people, however, also claimed that Ms. Robredo could not but “graciously” accept Ms. Duterte’s visit after being informed that Ms. Duterte was already motoring to her home. Ms. Duterte’s people haven’t denied this devious detail.

Despite these innocuous facts, the Leni-Sara meeting was front-page news and triggered pundits to explain what they thought happened behind closed doors, even if those directly involved kept their mouths tightly shut.

In general, the pundits speculated that the meeting showed that the besieged Ms. Duterte, who recently said she was no longer “friends” with the current Palace occupant, was in the hunt for new “friends,” especially those with political clout among the middle forces.

Meanwhile, some of Robredo’s prominent political allies — some of whom publicly castigated her — expressed worry that the meeting’s “optics” weren’t good as she seemingly tolerated the manipulative Dutertes who shouldn’t have been given any quarter in the first place.

In a sense, Robredo’s political allies had cause to be wary, even if there wasn’t any indication Ms. Robredo was about to strike an alliance with the Dutertes anytime soon.

One probable reason for the fear is perhaps the Leni-Sara meeting could somehow give the Marcos camp pause, take a long hard look and do something against the liberal opposition sooner than expected.

Such a fear is presumed by the common political knowledge that for now the Marcos camp is aiming all of its political firepower at dislodging the Duterte camp from the political landscape and has generally left the liberal opposition to their own devices.

Politically speaking, therefore, Ms. Duterte’s tactical move to meet with Robredo can be interpreted as not seeking allies or throwing a cute shade on the Marcos camp. Instead, it appears as indirectly easing the relentless pressure or presumed crackdowns on the Dutertes and their beleaguered allies.

Fantastic or probable speculations aside, it’s best to know at this point that the word “optics” also suggests a highly-planned operation managed by media pros, not just some random or casual event on the street. Don’t be manipulated.