Compare to a car, the vice presidency is really a spare tire meant to succeed the president in case of a blowout (death).
The fracas over the position started in 2016 when the son of the former president Marcos, Bongbong, ran and lost to Leni Robredo by a slim margin. Bongbong followers never forgot nor accepted the defeat they alleged to have been the result of cheating. While the case have been investigated and eventually settled the losing side kept it alive knowing they will be able to capitalize on it if Bongbong e cash now New York to pass. Now it is being touted as the rematch between Bongbong and Leni on a higher level.
However, the vice presidency continues to tickle everyone’s imagination because another controversial figure is running to take over the role of a spare tire. Sara Duterte has given a big boost on Bongbong’s candidacy after agreeing to be his sidekick. Her running both excites and irritates people because she’s being used as a two-bladed weapon. She’s tag team with Bongbong when it comes to Robredo. In other words, Robredo is up against two when it comes to campaign offensive. In Filipino we called it, “pinagtutulungan” (ganging up) on Robredo.
And that is so because both are seen as rabid anti-Robredo. It’s a toxic environment out there and it was so because of the relationship Robredo had with the outgoing president and father of Sara, Digong. In politics, family comes first. Robredo having made publicly known of her abhorrence of the ily during her vp run and her friction with the current president is enough reason for the duo to gang-up on her.
Expect Marcos and Sara to have a field day pillorying Robredo when the campaign heats up. On her part, Leni has an unenviable but compelling position because she’s being seen as the one dedicated to stop the return and advancement of tyranny in the country.
While the duo currently enjoys a slight edge over the other candidates there’s still a lot of time and a lot of wrangling and haggling that would happen to change the course of the race. And if Robredo plays her cards right, seeing and preempting the developments in the political landscape, she could finally end up the so-called revival of the Marcos dynasty and nip in the bud the Duterte aspiration to be the ily of today.
But in recent times, the once boring position has become a serious bone of contention in a presidential race
I cannot imagine sara placid enough to be spare tire. she wears the pants, lol! most likely she’ll ask for power sharing, the duo sharing the presidency. bbm will end up becoming her delightful rubber stamp. haha.
On twitter, on one 9f my post Not about Leni, I was told to concentrate on Leni. What the heck!
I explain that I’m not pink and my “job” is to understand all candidates
Right. I get lectured from time to time, mostly if I give visibility to Moreno or other opposition candidates. You might want to adopt a similar position as an analyst or student of politics and tell them it does no good to crawl into pink closets and close your eyes.
The presidential race is a tandem race but voters have the option to either vote only for one office (president or Vice President) or for both from different tickets. Mix and match.
There are lots of reasons we can cite why Sara, despite topping surveys for presidential race, chose to run for vice president instead. One of which is to demonstrate her independence from her father. She doesn’t want to be seen as the female version of Bong Go. She also want no part on the possibility of having a Duterte-Duterte in Malacanang if she run for president and her dad for vice-president and they both win. Not a good look. It could also be her decision to be the understudy first for BBM instead of taking votes from him. I think she knows it’s an enormous task to be president, hence, a watch and learn on the side is a good step to take.
