Why is Senator Imee Marcos hell-bent on blocking Justice Secretary Boying Remulla from becoming Ombudsman?
Imee filed the complaints. She’s saying Boying Remulla and his team broke the rules, overstepped their powers, acted corruptly, all over old Duterte being dragged to The Hague.
The complaints were dismissed, gone, kaput. And Imee? She files a Motion for Reconsideration. The Ombudsman did not sign up for this level of obsession: “Excuse me, lady, do you come with a mute button?”
The Ombudsman cannot be hostage to Imee’s political motivations. She knows her little motion is garbage. It’s like applying for an annulment because your husband snores. She doesn’t have to win. It’s about being annoying. Delay is the strategy. She’s freezing Boying’s Ombudsman clearance right when the Judicial Bar Council is deliberating.
The Dutertes can’t afford Boying sitting as Ombudsman. All their little schemes, leverage? Out the window. Finished.
An Ombudsman Remulla is Plan B for Bongbong-aligned interests. Impeachment fails? No matter. Sara’s alleged offenses (misuse of funds, administrative violations) fall squarely under the Ombudsman’s reach.
Sara sneezes the wrong way? Boom! Investigations, suspensions. Boying would not need an act of Congress.
As DoJ secretary, Remulla cannot be as effective: criminal cases demand high thresholds of evidence that Sara can spin as vendetta. Every slow, messy criminal case leaves her cunning room to tilt the story in her favor.
Which is why Imee is fighting so hard. Enough time to totally wreck Sara’s little presidential dream. And if she does become President? Boying will be sitting there every single day.
Sara has long been testing Imee’s fidelity. She forces Imee into impossible positions, like bringing Rody home from The Hague.
Harassing Boying is Imee’s public proof: “Look, I’m useful, I’m tough, I’m annoying, everything you need in a friend.”
She thinks Sara’s gonna pat her on the head and say, “Good girl, here’s a Cabinet post.”
But Imee isn’t naive, give her some credit. She knows she’s being used. And she probably enjoys it. The Dutertes treat her like Alexa: “Imee, play loyalty!” And she does it, every time.
She’s taking notes, “OK, Sara, you’ll give me an endorsement, right? A little political capital, maybe a selfie, too?” The Dutertes have a base, and Sara is heir apparent. Big time.
So Imee smiles, acts loyal in public, when all she wants is to unspool Sara’s brain. Two families, one throne, and Imee’s out there playing both sides.
With Imee, it’s always two things. She’s either running for the throne herself or playing the puppet master: kingmaker, queenmaker, clownmaker, whatever it takes.
She’s staking her little bureaucratic traps because Sandro is next and Martin is measuring the curtains. Doesn’t matter if Duterte’s up, Marcos is down, or some cousin is suddenly running the show. Imee’s only goal: never, ever be irrelevant. And, honestly, that’s the one thing she’s good at.
Or maybe it’s still about family survival. Imee knows Sara Duterte isn’t a rival you debate but a wrecking ball you brace for. She’s the designated Marcos family insurance that, when Sara comes swinging like a wrecking ball (and she will), it wouldn’t flatten her.
She’ll be the last Marcos standing in the rubble.