When President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. reorganized the National Security Council (NSC) two days before 2024 became history, it virtually confirmed his insecurity.

No one, save perhaps for those who have made a living out of looking the other way, is buying the statement issued by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin that the EO 81 was issued to “reorganize and streamline the membership of the NSC.” Bersamin, who has no qualms about being BBM’s main apologist at this critical juncture, went further with the preposterous claim that “the VP is not considered relevant to the responsibilities of membership in the NSC.”

Bersamin made no mention of the glaring exclusion of former Presidents Erap Estrada, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and Rodrigo Duterte in the new composition of the NSC. But it leaves a bad taste in the mouth not only because it is a shameless departure from tradition but also because it deprives the council of the wealth of experience and wisdom that the three former Chief Executives can offer to an unworthy successor who is afraid even of a hair follicle drug test.

There is no urgent need or cogent reason for the reorganization, save for the obvious intention of deepening BBM’s rift with Vice-President Sara Duterte. While survey firms say the popularity ratings of the top two officials are on a downward trajectory, it’s a different story elsewhere. Vice-President Inday’s stock is constantly rising, which is why the Marcos administration is throwing more than just the kitchen sink at her.

The outlawed New People’s Army (NPA) has been badly decimated during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte, one reason why the leftists hate him more than the Marcoses. The South China Sea (SCS) conflict, which the United States desperately tried to light up, is cooling off with the landslide win of President-elect Donald Trump, who is averse to wars on foreign soil.

While the Marcos media tried to make it appear that the happy-go-lucky BBM was not interested in attending Trump’s inauguration, his non-inclusion in the list of the heads of state invited to an event much more prestigious than most of BBM’s foreign trips hinted not only of a policy shift in the SCS but also of Trump’s preferred list of foreign partners.

There is no question that the fabled Uniteam that installed BBM and Sara in 2022 is no more. The insane demolition job against VP Sara leaves no doubt about the intentions of the troika of BBM, Speaker Martin Romualdez, and First Lady Liza Marcos to bury her politically – at the very least. BBM disapproves of the impeachment cases filed against VP Inday. Since when?

The influential Iglesia ni Cristo's declaration to rally against the impeachment in support of BBM’s opposition to it has not deterred the filing of the cases, which can only mean one of two things: either the groups behind it are not afraid of the INC, or they know something we don’t.

In any case, the filing of the three cases (a fourth one is awaited) reflects the state of confusion within the Marcos administration. So, while BBM claims the impeachment is a waste of time, Romualdez and his cabal were bused into Malacañang before Christmas to declare their support for him. Their insistence on going ahead with something he supposedly opposes shows both BBM’s confusion and his hypocrisy.

“What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also,” Julius Caesar once remarked, a hint of his naivete of human nature as the betrayal that ended his life would prove. Anyone who listens to BBM, Bersamin, Romualdez, and Rep. Zaldy Co would not find it difficult to be reminded of Caesar’s hypothesis.

It is difficult to miss the chilling similarities of BBM’s EO 81 to the path blazed by his father, the late dictator President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., leading to the infamous PD 1081. On his way to Martial Law, the elder Marcos cleared one main obstacle by ousting then-Vice-President Fernando Lopez from the NSC. It does not matter that BBM disrespected Erap, GMA, and FPRRD when he excluded them from the composition of the new NSC. If what we’re thinking is what BBM has in mind, damn the torpedoes. At the rate things are going, it is easy to see that BBM is on course to repeat that dark period of our nation’s history.

Unfortunately for BBM, at least three factors are going against him. For one, BBM and FM are worlds apart, not only regarding legal acumen. A legal luminary described FM as an “evil genius.” History has condemned the father, but there is no argument that he was a genius, which is something that cannot be said of the son. Two, FM did not have to deal with one as popular as FPRRD. The only one remotely close to that was bigger in death than he was in life.

Finally, VP Inday is a certified contender for the presidency, something that Lopez never was despite the wealth at his family’s disposal. The non-stop barrage against VP Sara has only increased her stock, not only because of the Filipino’s penchant to root for the underdog but because she has turned her persecution into an opportunity to prove that she is indeed her father’s daughter and that she has what it takes to lead a fractious and looted country back to its feet.

BBM has all the reasons to be wary of VP Sara, chief among them including his and his troika’s abuses and excesses. Being the one on top, the buck stops with him, and he has no one else to blame but himself. To be fair to him, it is not only his follies that have turned BBM into a lame-duck president. VP Sara has turned out to be not just a pillar of strength who has endeared herself to the people; she has also patiently but firmly unpacked the lies thrown against her by an arrogant, corrupt, and incompetent administration.

Any tyrant in BBM’s shoes would feel the same way as the comparisons between him and FPRRD’s heir apparent grow by the day. It is this insecurity that prompted the NSC revamp.