A surprise but not an innocent visit on Wednesday by Vice President Sara Duterte to Senator Rodante Marcoleta could have forced yet another leadership change in that once august chamber.
Or it could have been a double-whammy for both Houses of Congress even as the House of Representatives had elected Isabela 6th District Rep. Faustino “Bojie” Dy III for its new speaker on the same day.
Dy succeeded Leyte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, a cousin of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., following a very smooth transition of power.
The real dynamics that forced Romualdez to resign had transpired at the Palace the day before.
Marcos himself asked Romualdez to step down, citing that the latter’s name had tainted the House after members were linked to alleged kickbacks from contractors handling government-funded flood control projects.
But what an explosive Wednesday it could have been had Marcoleta, a neophyte senator, possessed some clout with his peers to make them agree to oust Vicente “Tito” Sotto, minted Senate President just nine days back.
Duterte’s mistake was her choice of a lieutenant. Marcoleta, barely three months as a member of the Senate, has yet to command leadership over the more senior senators of the minority.
Duterte should have spoken to Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, who, the day before the VP’s visit, was floated as a possible replacement for Sotto.
The pitch did not fly, though. Not a few members of the minority were said to have been vocal about former Senate President Chiz Escudero as their choice.
Escudero, however, would rather not push the Senate to the brink, two sources told this writer.
Duterte, however, was reportedly insistent. She allegedly told Marcoleta that she could convince some members of the new majority to shift sides.
Duterte, it was said, can bring in Pia Cayetano (if her brother Alan were the Senate President), siblings Mark and Camille Villar, and one other senior Senator considered to be her sleeper in Sotto’s group.
Hint: that lawmaker holds a powerful position in the new majority.
Everything collapsed, however, as the small group Duterte had assembled was just that– a small group.
Marcoleta, Bong Go, Bato dela Rosa, and Imee Marcos lacked fortitude to initiate the Duterte’s plan. What Duterte found that day was the weakened state of her influence despite her earlier audacity to claim the ability to sway the other members of the new majority over to Marcoleta’s side.
Gone were the days when a single flick of her hand, while she was only a mayor of Davao City, could evict even her president father’s choice for his House Speaker, Pantaleon Alvarez, to favor Gloria Arroyo, also the former president responsible for forming the Marcos-Duterte “uniteam.”
That “uniteam” is gone. So is the power Duterte once possessed that she thought she could still shake institutions, only to find them stronger to resist her bratty demands. Sotto isn’t safe yet, but he sure survived that day.