Daily TribuneThere’s your grand criminal conspiracy: put a camera in front of a politician and suddenly they become 10 feet tall and half insane.
VICE President Sara Duterte arrived at the Senate on Tuesday, 7 July, along with one of her lawyers Atty. Michael Poa prior to the second day of the impeachment trial against her.
Aram Lascano
Sara, I don’t believe you. And, weirdly, that may save you.
Because their strongest evidence: they want us to believe your words because they were on video. Loud. Ugly. Straight from your mouth.
In the same breath, they tell us she is reckless and unstable and dangerous and irrational. Maybe even nuts.
So which Sara is this? Pick one.
You don’t get to call her a lunatic when you want the country scared, then call her a reliable witness when you want the Senate to erase an election.
If we say Mary Grace Piattos may not exist, why are we so sure Sara’s “contracted” hitman exists at all?
Same standard. If Mary Grace Piattos needs proof, so does the killer.
Where is he? Where is the order? The money? The command? The plan?
Because nobody hires a hitman on livestream. That is strange. Very. People rant on livestream, posture there, scare people there; they try to look strong because the camera is on and the internet is hungry and they say the wildest line because the wildest line gets shared, liked, and subscribed to.
There’s your grand criminal conspiracy: put a camera in front of a politician and suddenly they become 10 feet tall and half insane. Bigger and louder and meaner. Faker.
But a threat screamed into a camera is not the same thing as an instruction whispered to a killer.
Listen to the actual shape of the words. “If they kill me…” It begins with fear. The first victim in Sara Duterte’s own fantasy was Sara Duterte. That matters.
Frightened people can say stupid things. Violent things. Giant things. They make themselves sound dangerous because admitting they are afraid is humiliating.
Politicians would rather eat broken glass live than look weak.
That is the leap the prosecution wants you to make. Watch the meltdown. Hear the rant. Feel disgusted.
Then somehow land on the other side and call it an impeachable abuse of the vice presidency.
That is massive. Olympic. Carlos Yulo needed two gold medals to make that leap.
Let us be honest about Sara Duterte. Nobody here is shocked. Not fainted. Or discovered, for the first time, that a Duterte can explode like a grenade. This is the temper and the whole family franchise of rage.
Thirty-two million people saw it. They knew the product. They still bought it.
Maybe they were wrong. Stupid. Maybe history will laugh at them.
Impeachment is not Congress saying the voters picked trash. Maybe they did. Not the point.
Impeachment is Congress saying, “Your vote is gone. We’re taking it back. So bring the kind of proof that can survive that insult.”
That is the burden.
You brought a video. A nasty video. A video no veep should ever make.
vFine. I’ll condemn it with you. Everybody condemn it. Pound the table. Do the moral face for the cameras. But don’t lie to us and call that a case, taking an ugly rant pretending you found the hitman. You did not.
Condemn the mouth, not convict the office.
Because sometimes democracy gives you a statesman. Sometimes a chainsaw. And if the people elect the chainsaw, you do not impeach it for making noise.
Bring proof it cut through the Constitution. Otherwise, it is prosecuting the voters for the bad manners of choosing her.
