Impeachment sideshow

Stymied by a Senate that remanded — or more bluntly, returned to sender — the impeachment complaint it filed against Vice President Sara Duterte, the House of Representatives suddenly found itself without a stage.

For weeks, it had been working up to a high-drama Senate trial. This as the machinery of accountability — or at least something that looked like it — started moving.

And then, with the Senate putting the impeachment complaint in limbo, the Office of the Ombudsman entered the picture, ordering Duterte to respond to allegations ranging from malversation and perjury to bribery and plunder.

What complicated matters was that the Ombudsman cited the House’s own Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability as the complainant, despite no such case being filed, according to House spokesperson Princess Abante.

The House had merely sent over a copy of their report to the Ombudsman, House leaders conceded, with their motivation for doing so — as a courtesy, as bait, or a bureaucratic baton pass — being unclear.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires, however, was less than pleased. “Eh bakit ba nila kami fu-furnish-an ng kopya ng result ng kanilang investigation? Ano ’yon, gagawin naming scratch paper?” he said in a radio interview. Translation: “Don’t drag us into your political theater.”

And that’s precisely where the tension lies. The House is playing politics; the Ombudsman, ostensibly, is not. The two institutions may be focused on the same official, but they’re working from different scripts.

Because make no mistake: that’s what this is really about. The push to impeach the Vice President may be framed in terms of constitutional violations and fiscal abuse, but its deeper goal is more strategic — to clear the path for 2028.

The impeachment effort isn’t just a reckoning; it’s to remove a presidential contender, Duterte, who carried Marcos to the Palace in 2022 instead of taking the throne for herself.

Which is why it’s worth noting that the Ombudsman’s intervention wasn’t necessarily coordinated — and maybe that’s the point. His office may have seen enough in the House’s report to merit action, but that doesn’t mean he’s joining the show. If anything, he may be complicating it, but not by design.

President Marcos, for his part, insists he won’t interfere. “It’s a matter between the House and the Senate,” he said. That may be technically true, but it’s also a politically convenient statement.

Mr. Marcos has every reason to care who becomes president next. History hasn’t been kind to former Philippine heads of state. Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and now Rodrigo Duterte have all faced prosecution — or persecution — after stepping down.

Digong, Sara’s father in fact, now faces trial before the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, bundled off to The Hague through the machinations of the Marcos government. There’s a price to pay for that.

So, while the President purportedly keeps his distance in public, privately he knows the score. Who will win in 2028 isn’t just about legacy — it may be about protection —- his.

In the end, it’s not surprising that the House and the Ombudsman appear misaligned. One is making a political move. The other, by all indications, is making a legal one. The surprise would be if they ever ended up on the same page.