A heartbeat away but…

By Herbert Vego

AS vice-president, Sara Duterte is said to be “a heartbeat away from the presidency.”

As the “spare tire,” she could automatically replace President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos if he dies, resigns or is incapacitated.

If she could not wait, she could forcibly edge out Marcos via impeachment.

Conversely, fearful of that possibility, Marcos would want Sara stripped of being “designated survivor” through the same process.

As the Tagalog saying goes, “matira ang matibay.”

Based on unfolding events at the House of Representatives, it’s Inday Sara who sees impeachment hanging over her head like the sword of Damocles, her political future resting in the hands of congressmen and senators.

Mr. Webster defines impeachment as “the process of charging a public official with a crime which makes him unfit for office.”

Impeachment as practiced in the Philippines empowers the House of Representatives to formally impeach an impeachable government official. Once impeached, this official faces the Senate-turned-impeachment court which may convict and kick him out of public office permanently.

Based on what is streaming in all media today, the Commission on Audit (COA) has provided Congress with a deluge of grounds to disqualify her from completing her six-year vice-presidency.

House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro (ACT party-list) would like her impeached due to malversation in the disbursement of ₱73 million out of her ₱125 million confidential funds in 2022.

COA has called out VP Sara over failure of the Department of Education (DepEd) to settle its huge disallowances, suspensions and charges, which stood at P12.3 billion as of the end of 2023, her last full year as DepEd secretary.

The COA report showed that the DepEd in 2023, was able to build only 192, or just 3%, of the 6,379 target classrooms.

But, of course, all of that would only serve to paint legitimacy in the impeachment process, which is really a numbers game, since it would be filed in the House and decided in the Senate based on simple majority votes.

As I see it, most of the congressmen and senators who used to lick the boots of President Rodrigo Duterte are now with Bongbong.

But Bongbong himself would probably backtrack from flashing the green light for Sarah’s impeachment because the Dutertes still possess aces against him, one of which is Marcos’ alleged collusion with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to rig the 2022 presidential election, awarding him with 31 million votes.

But why did VP Sara outnumber him with 32 million?

Katakataka!

-oOo-

ILECO I ASKED TO INK A JVA WITH MORE POWER

THIS writer has received messages from residents of Miag-ao, Iloilo, asking, “Is it true that ILECO I will merge with MORE Power through a joint venture agreement?”

While I have no idea about it, that is not a far-fetched possibility in Miag-ao and other towns of Iloilo’s 1^st District. After all, there are towns in the other districts, which used to be empowered also by ILECO I, II and III, where MORE Power is competing in accordance with the law (RA 11918), expanding its franchise from Iloilo City to Passi City and 15 towns of Iloilo Province.

Incidentally, a joint venture agreement has been successfully entered into between Primelectric (which is the holding company to which MORE Power belongs) and Central Negros Cooperative (Ceneco), thus giving birth to Negros Power Corporaton (NEPC).

It goes without saying that unless MORE Power comes to the rescue, ILECO customers would diminish, resulting in higher power rates.

Otherwise, with giant distribution utility MORE Power winning the race due to economies of scale, this quotation from ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle applies: “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”