Aug. 27 was the day Vice-President Sara Duterte crossed her Rubicon.

Vice-President Inday threw all caution to the winds, not giving in an inch in her verbal jousts with 47 solons itching to skin her alive. In what seemed like a coming out party to many Filipinos, the country’s most popular elected official made it clear that she would not be a party to her own political funeral.

Holding session in their homecourt, the solons had everything to their advantage, but she took all that away by singlehandedly fielding all the flaming arrows thrown at her. They came prepared, but she was head and shoulders above them. They tried to force her to fit into their narrative, but she extricated herself each time.

Vice-President Duterte has all the right to be belligerent.

To this day, there is no showing that she has committed any crime in performing her duties. All the sound and fury are mere creations of a massive propaganda machine fixated on destroying her and eliminating her from the 2028 race.

The allegation of impropriety in the 11-day distribution is a classic con man staple. Since when has speed and efficiency been a criminal offense? Unless there is sufficient proof that some of it went to her pocket, the only damage it did was burst the collective bubble of an institution staggering under the weight of its own extravagance.

It is the height of hypocrisy for an institution to demand accountability from her when it has shamelessly and arrogantly refused to submit to growing calls for an end to the questionable practice of liquidation by certification.

And that P10-million budget for her book? Well, weren’t they the same people who swallowed all of P20 million of the SoNA budget on one meal? They can throw the book at her, but if there was any impropriety, to do that would be the pot calling the kettle black.

After everything is said and done, these solons and the House should be the last people to question Vice-President Inday of propriety in public spending. Tarpaulins with names and faces on giveaways procured by public funds are all over the country, but no member of Congress has raised a howl over that. It is like Dracula preaching the gospel of abstinence from eating blood.

For sure, the House would not take this dressing down in its alley lightly. She could go the way of former Spokesperson Harry Roque, who languished for 24 hours after being censured for contempt, but that would be stoking the fire even more.

Vice-President Inday, however, reads the Filipino psyche very well. Already well above everybody else in all surveys except those whose results were predetermined, any punishment would catapult her even higher. Filipinos love the underdog, more so a lady who dares stand up to the bullies they would love to clobber in their fantasies.

Despite being relatively young in politics, Vice-President Inday showed the nation she has the goods to take on challenges on her own and by herself. To those who thought she was merely riding on her father’s popularity, a mere media creation, it was a pleasant surprise.

In their secret meetings in preparation for the great confrontation with the Vice-President, the solons probably salivated for the moment they would finally tame the eagle of the south. It turned out to be a nightmare for them and a defining moment for her.

Crossing the Rubicon is an idiom that means passing a point of no return. It traces its origin to Caesar crossing the Rubicon River, which marks the boundary between Italy and Cisalpine Gaul in 49 BC. By taking his troops across, he provoked a civil war with Pompey.

When she took on virtually the full force of Congress, Vice-President Inday burned so many bridges in the process, particularly friendships forged through the years. It may not necessarily be final, but there is no doubt that things will never be the same.

It won’t be the same between her and all those who sat across her, thinking they would fry her but ended up with lard splashed all over their faces. It will never be the same between her and an institution that had morphed into a monster of its own making.

True, Vice-President Inday took a monumental risk in the process. There are people who are scandalized by any departure from routine, who are more concerned with form over substance. There are those who cringe at the victim because they don’t have the balls to do it themselves. That is a risk worth taking any day.

What Vice-President Inday did, however, was force people to make a choice: whether to allow Congress to continue existing as it is or allow this administration, led by a President who refuses to heed the call for a hair follicle drug test for him and his officials, to do as it pleases.

Those who agree with what she is fighting for now know she is the leader they have been waiting for. Those who don’t can give her hell – which is what they have been doing anyway. In between, those who sit in the fences now have the opportunity to be part of Hakbang ng Maisug, the emerging movement sweeping the country.  

In the coming days, the Filipino people will make that decision known.