Junked

Sen. Imee Marcos has become grist for the political rumor mill.

- ALEX MAGNO

It seems Imee, seeking reelection to the Senate, has been junked from the administration-endorsed slate. In the last political rally held for this slate, she was noticeably absent. Her younger brother, the President, likewise neglected endorsing her candidacy.

Imee is not the only pro-administration candidate absenting herself from the rallies that routinely center on the President's remarks. Camille Villar, seeking to succeed her mother in the Senate, likewise found it more convenient to be absent from political rallies where presidential utterances are more widely covered than whatever the candidates themselves say.

The junking of Imee (or, Imee's abandonment of her place in this campaign) reflects the stresses brought about by the deepening polarization between pro-administration and pro-Duterte forces.

This polarization began when Vice President Sara Duterte resigned her Cabinet post and was subsequently impeached by the Lower House. It worsened precipitously after former president Rodrigo Duterte was unceremoniously grabbed at the airport and flown off to detention at the ICC in The Hague.

Whatever the legal controversies involved in this event, it does seem the administration conveniently exported a political problem. Some called this a kidnapping. The safer term is probably "rendition" — the term first used officially by the US military when it subcontracted the torture and detention of prisoners of war to third parties.