President Ferdinand Marcos blinked first in the fierce eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with Vice President Sara Duterte when he pulled the plug on one of the most divisive issues today.

Less than a week after he declared that he would not be “moved” (di patitinag), BBM retreated with a message to Congress to halt the impeachment moves against Vice President Inday.

In probably a last-ditch attempt to appear unperturbed, BBM said the increasingly popular Vice President is not important “in the larger scheme of things.” Misplaced bravado that fooled no one except his sycophants.

Just who is he fooling?

Assuming that BBM’s retreat was not prearranged, it leaves more questions than answers.

For instance, who would believe that the impeachment move was not cleared with him before it was set into motion? If it wasn’t, it would only bolster the prevailing suspicion that he is not the one holding the reins. No, he gave it his go-signal. That is obvious.

But what happens now that he publicly withdrew his support for VP Inday’s impeachment?

If the House refuses to stop, despite BBM’s declaration, he will become the butt of jokes. He is like a henpecked husband unable to command respect from his partner in crime, Speaker Martin Romualdez, and his demolition crew in Congress. It will only confirm what former President Rodrigo Duterte warned before the 2022 election: he is weak.

On the other hand, how will the members of Congress who painstakingly prepared for what was billed as the final assault against VP Inday feel? They will feel abandoned, betrayed, and used. It was too much ado over nothing, all fury and no storm. This is not surprising, though, given BBM’s emerging persona.

Worse, these solons now have incurred the ire not only of VP Inday, FPRRD, and the Duterte family but also of a nation outraged by the mindless persecution of BBM’s most popular and trusted Cabinet secretary until she was forced to resign. They are now marked politicians who have earned the wrath of the Duterte nation, the millions who believe in the family that has given them reason to hope again.

Whether the impeachment will push through or not, BBM has already lost. Big time. Either way, he will have to deal with disenchantment worse than before the impeachment move started.

BBM has dug himself into a hole. By most indications, he won’t be able to climb out of it. If ever, it will entail a lot of sacrifices that will leave him scarred forever.

As many pointed out in the past, BBM wasted the rarest of privileges to redeem whatever honor there was left to his father’s name. Some people just never learn.

In the immortal words of what Filipinos refer to as “the most fatal song” and which almost everybody is familiar with: “And now the end is near…”