Losing sleep, going nuts

President Duterte has a strange way of amusing himself. He does it by making his enemies lose sleep and go crazy. He derives pleasure in knowing that his fun comes at the expense of his enemies’ wits. He knows that, like throwing a bone to a bunch of dogs at his feet, they will pounce on it and fight among themselves, with no one really getting the right bite.

Take the matter of presidential succession. Duterte never really got around to trusting Vice President Leni Robredo. And it is not because he truly thinks she is incapable. Like him she is a lawyer and also once served in Congress. In fact, Duterte early on had a liking for her. Remember his comment about her legs, or was it her knees?

Duterte never got around to trusting Robredo because, to him, she failed in the one and only time he had been willing to trust a member of the party that had been out to get him even before he became president. Duterte gave Robredo a job in his Cabinet. But Robredo would not stop criticizing him even when she was already part of the official family.

Whether or not her criticisms were valid is not the point. To Duterte, if Robredo cannot stomach his person and his policies, she should have resigned first. But he cannot have a member of the official team try to undermine him from within. So he asked her not to attend Cabinet meetings anymore, forcing her to resign. In a manner of speaking, he fired her.

Now, Duterte has a way of saying things that tend to rub people the wrong way. And he is aware of that. In fact he relishes it. For example, he truly is frustrated at the great difficulty he is encountering in trying to rid the country of illegal drugs and corruption. He truly misappreciated the extent and gravity of the twin problems.

To express this frustration, he said he is thinking of resigning. But you and I know he is not going to do that. Duterte hates criticism. To resign is to admit failure. And you know what a magnet that would be for criticism. You do not think the man who gets criticized even at the height of his popularity ratings would not see that?

Duterte talked of resignation to express his frustration but was unwilling to suffer alone. He talked of resignation to promptly catch the attention of his enemies, who have always been longing to do away with him. Now he was going to give it to them? Not really. He was just going to make them lose sleep over the possibility.

But Duterte is not stopping there. He has to make them gnash their teeth while losing sleep. And so he threw in the statement that he would rather have Bongbong Marcos or a military junta take over than let Robredo succeed him. True enough the dogs at his feet pounced. Everybody from Drilon to Trillanes is having spasms. What fun Duterte is having.

‘He talked of resignation

to promptly catch the attention of his enemies, who have always been longing

to do away with him.’