Passing the gun…is President Duterte baiting the Vice-President to take part in the bloodbath?
Philippines
Vice-President Leni Robredo succumbs to “bloodlust”
Editorial
By Ted Alcuitas
“Simply put, the only way Robredo could succeed is by succumbing to the bloodlust of the regime.” – Inday Espina-Varona, Contributing Editor/Writer at ABS CBN Integrated News & Current Affairs.
In a classic Machiavellian move, President Rodrigo Duterte is succeeding in removing the last remaining pillar of three prominent critics of his regime.
Yesterday (November 5), Vice-President Leni Robredo announced her acceptance of the offer of the President to be co-chair of the anti-drug body supposedly to help cleanup the drug problem.
Robredo, along with two other women critics of the President – former Supreme Court Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno and Senator Leila de Lima has been vocal against Duterte since the beginning of his term.
Who is afraid of these three? Left, Senator Leila de Lima, former Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno and Vice-President Leni Robredo.
Duterte silenced Sereno by removing her from her post and imprisoning De Lima for over two years now on trumped-up drug charges.
He has been maneuvering to disable Robredo who has been democratically elected as Vice-President by encouraging the election protest filed by ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Duterte makes no bones about his love for the Marcoses to come back to power and has been positioning Marcos to take over the presidency.
Bongbong Marcos has been locked in an ongoing election protest to unseat Vice-President Leni Robredo.
It is the perfect ruse to lure Robredo to go along with him just as he did with former Communist and leftist personalities which he convinced to be in his cabinet only to boot them out later.
There is no doubt that Robredo is well-meaninged in her acceptance which she calls a “challenge” but any right-thinking person knows that Duterte holds the cards.
The country is virtually under a ‘de facto’ martial law with all the institutions under his tight control – from the judiciary to the legislature and the military.
So, what makes Robredo thinks she can go against him?
Is she the next one to be silenced?
Or is she shaking hands with the devil?