Political allies of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Speaker Martin Romualdez thought the filing of impeachment cases would be the last nail in Vice President Inday Sara Duterte's political coffin. Obviously, they were wrong.

The filing was met by massive outpourings of anger in different parts of the country. Outraged by the brazenness of the cabal led by the President’s own son, citizens took to social media to express their contempt not only for the signatories but also for BBM and Romualdez.

Filed a day before both chambers would go into recess, only those who look the other way would miss the obvious: it was a desperate shot to distract the people from two jarring reversals in the previous days. The Supreme Court had just given the Marcos administration a non-extendable deadline of 10 days to answer the petition filed by Atty. Vic Rodriguez and Cong. Isidro Ungab against the 2025 budget, which has been under fire for, among other things, blank items in the Bicam Committee report.

As if it was not enough, members of the House Tricomm itching to lay their hands on 40 bloggers and influencers critical of BBM and Romualdez outwitted them when they went to the Supreme Court at the last minute to challenge the summons issued to them. Left holding the proverbial empty bag, one member could not hold back his temper when one nasty word escaped his lips. It was enough to generate another torrent of catcalls from the “Noisy 40” and other critics on their respective social media accounts.

They say haste is waste, and the ill-advised impeachment case proved that.

Senate President Francis Escudero made it clear that the case will be heard at the earliest on June 2 when the Senate reconvenes after the election. That is not written in stone, of course, but the odds are that high. While informants revealed that the time leading to that would be used to step up the demolition of the Vice President, this could backfire on those tasked with the demolition. Granting that most, if not all, of them, face only token opposition doesn’t make it any easier. If the initial response is any indication, they will have to prepare for the worst.

So, how did VP Inday handle the worst storm of her political career? She handled it calmly, so calm that it unnerved the usually feisty left-wing sector of the anti-Duterte coalition in Congress. Showing no signs of apprehension or sleepless nights, VP Sara casually dismissed the case as nothing less than heartache.

“Mas masakit pa ang maiwanan ng boyfriend o girlfriend kaysa ma-impeach ka ng House of Representatives,” the Vice President remarked during a press conference that showcased her fabled fortitude.

Does she know something we don’t? In all likelihood, yes.

The plotters of the impeachment probably picked up a few tricks from their ideological allies in the United States who filed impeachment cases against President Donald Trump - not once but twice. Tired of all the trumped-up charges coupled with the mismanagement and corruption under ex-President Joe Biden, American voters instead gave Trump a resounding victory in last year’s elections.

Will Sara do a Trump by vaulting to the Presidency after being impeached? Somebody up there holds all the answers.