It was supposed to be a case of hitting two birds with one stone.
The government would apprehend a high-profile political foe (Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who was in hiding for fear of being kidnapped and delivered to the Netherlands, as the Marcos administration had done to former President Duterte), and at the same time thwart the move to replace the Senate leadership. Bato was to be the crucial swing vote.
It was important to preserve the Sotto status quo in the Senate. It was the eve of the transmission of the articles of impeachment against the Vice President and the administration needed a friendly presiding judge.
More importantly for Marcos Jr., a change in the chairmanship of the Blue Ribbon Committee from their lackey, Ping Lacson, to someone impartial and more inclined to continue the investigation into the trillion-peso-plus “Floodgate” may lead to fingers pointing to the Palace, which was dangerous. The Senate thus became Malacañang’s Normandy: it may well-nigh be decisive to winning the war.
The planning was meticulous, as in the Normandy Invasion. Quislings (in the person of Sotto and, possibly, Lacson) were employed to ease the insertion of National Bureau of Investigation agents into the Senate. A huge force of heavily armed NBI men also ringed the compound.
To make things more spectacular, the country’s worst political hack, Antonio Trillanes, entered the building, supposedly armed with an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for Dela Rosa, never mind if that warrant was a mere scrap of paper in Philippine jurisdiction. The scene was set, or so they thought.
But, as the old adage goes, the best laid plans will fail if executed by morons. (Actually, I made that up just now, but it’s nonetheless a valid saying.) And fail the plans did, in spectacular fashion.
First, the NBI hadn’t counted on an athletic Bato outrunning, outclimbing and outwitting agents half his age. Then, after the leadership changed, the NBI failed to take into account that the newly appointed Sergeant-at-Arms would be General Mao Aplasca, a battle-hardened and tough soldier who was not afraid to defend the Senate premises to the death, if it came to that.
Aplasca rallied his men and struck the fear of God into the NBI operatives who were only supposed to be investigating crimes, not going into an actual gunfight with veteran warriors. As one of my friends in the NBI later told me, “I didn’t sign up for this crap!”
To top it all, the new Senate President was made of stern stuff. He stood his ground, protected Bato from what was essentially toilet paper being brandished by the equally excretory Trillanes, and prevented what would have been another case of an unconstitutional extraordinary rendition.
The rest, as they say, is history. Chaos ensued. Supporters and opponents of Dela Rosa jammed the outside of the Senate building. Sotto’s car, as he was escaping the premises, was mobbed and almost overturned. Shots rang out. The President denied the NBI was involved. His own NBI director contradicted him.
In the end, the administration failed to rock Bato’s vote. Alan Peter is now Senate President. Sara will face an impartial tribunal presided over by a lawyer. And the perpetrators of the greatest scam in Philippine history are quaking in their boots.
