By essentially agreeing with his senior political adviser’s position, President Marcos Jr. confirmed that the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte is still in play.

If the general perception in the immediate aftermath of the massive Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) rally had it that the Veep somehow dodged the impeachment bullet, that isn’t now the case following Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile’s viral take on the issue.  

Enrile’s take, of course, is that impeachment is inarguably a crucial matter involving the state itself, that messing around with impeachment procedures jeopardizes the Constitution and its provisions. 

“Can the INC with all its members amend the Constitution or suspend any of its provisions? Are we prepared to discard or sacrifice the value of the RULE OF LAW for a person or a group of persons?” were Enrile’s stinging questions. 

To everyone’s surprise, the Chief Executive grasped Enrile’s point and immediately agreed with him. 

So much so that the Chief Executive substantially changed his position on the Veep’s impeachment, from it being “a waste of time” to asserting the “timing was off.” For the incumbent, the impeachment of the Veep is now clearly a question not of WHY but of WHEN. 

By itself, the President’s pronounced change of heart has many political implications and consequences. 

But for our purposes here, the President’s change of heart can be immediately seen as a matter of the incumbent redirecting present politics to his liking. 

Which, in the context of the forthcoming crucial midterm elections, would allow him to blunt any serious challenges that could damage the electoral chances of his allies in the aftermath of the INC rally. 

In fact, Enrile provided the strategic vision which enabled the incumbent to see what he can tactically do in order to outplay the Dutertes, who made full use of the ambiguous intent of the INC rally not only to benefit themselves but to employ it to influence the midterms. 

This could be readily seen when, after the INC rally, numerous Duterte supporters proudly crowed that politicians intending to win in the midterms couldn’t afford to antagonize the Veep and the Dutertes.

 As it was, many perceived the INC rally to have provided much-needed relief to the Dutertes and their dwindling political fortunes. 

But after the President’s dramatic change of position, it has become increasingly clear that the Dutertes’ newly found clout was immediately short-circuited. 

 Short-circuited largely because of the one inescapable fact that the INC will now have to follow where the President is going with the Veep’s impeachment. This if the INC still wants to remain consistent with its earlier vow to uphold the President’s wishes.

 The INC is still keeping silent regarding the President’s new wishes, however. And, so far, there are no indications they will come out with anything substantially adverse to the President’s position anytime soon.

 At any rate, the President’s new position and the INC’s subsequent silence seem to have effectively erased whatever political benefits the Dutertes gained from the INC’s show of force. 

So much so that in recent days there has been no noticeable highlighting of the INC rally in pro-Duterte circles. 

Meanwhile, the President’s new position unexpectedly assured his allies that supporting the Veep’s impeachment isn’t contrary to his wishes.

Instead, what the President seems to be telling his allies is that they should carefully study whether the proper time for impeaching the Veep is before or after the elections.

At the moment, the President’s allies are privately weighing and debating their many options, including the option of the House filing for impeachment just before the campaign period starts then leaving the trial for the Senate after the polls.

But whatever option is taken or whatever happens next, it is clear that impeachment continues to be the sword of Damocles hanging over the Veep’s head.