On her 47th birthday celebration, Vice-President Inday Sara Duterte finds herself at the crossroads of destiny.

The undisputed front-runner in the 2028 presidential elections, VP Inday marks the occasion outside the International Criminal Court (ICC) detention facility in Scheveningen where her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte is being held while awaiting trial.

FPRRD’s enemies imagined his detention as the kiss of death to the political legend. Instead, it has become the rallying symbol of Filipino aspiration and dignity that refuses to die and shows no sign of let-up after three months. In the country, it is turning into a wildfire that has captured the imagination of Filipinos and even other nationalities. Never before has an ICC detainee been the object of so much love and affirmation from his own people.

The scandalous circumstances surrounding fPRRD’s legal rendition have so enraged Filipinos they vented their ire at administration candidates in this year’s mid-term election. What started as a mismatch turned into a photo finish. Not one of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s handpicked trio of former Secretary Benhur Abalos and former Senators Emmanuel Pacquiao and Francis Tolentino made it to the winning circle in the recently concluded mid-term elections. This notwithstanding allegations of massive cheating that skeptics claim prompted the pathetic call for resignation, among others, to divert attention away from it.

PBBM and Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez have thrown everything against Vice-President Inday, but she has survived and emerged stronger than ever. So far, the most vicious impeachment filed against her by the House of Representatives is dead for all intents and purposes. The strange bedfellows pushing the impeachment – the radical left and the coalition of anti-Duterte forces including the Liberal Party, Akbayan, the church, mainstream media and whatever remains of the Marcos loyalists realized too late that they have been had. Romualdez, whose ambition fueled the demolition of VP Sara, has kept himself scarce while the last rites are being administered on the impeachment. As for PBBM, he was last seen paddling away from the sinking ship while disowning anything to do with the impeachment.

Barring unforeseen events, most political pundits see a Duterte presidency in 2028 – or even much earlier. The confluence of events leading to the present configuration boggles the mind.

By her own admission, VP Inday had set her sights on a medical career. FPRRD, however, convinced her that her destiny is public service. While she intended no more than to serve as mayor of Davao City, destiny had other plans for her. Like her father before her, she was content to serve sans the glare of publicity like most image-conscious politicians. Even after serving as city mayor for one term and hitting the road during the unforgettable presidential campaign in 2016, VP Inday stayed out of sight. There was nothing to indicate interest in following his footsteps.    

Elizabeth Bowen, the 18th-century Anglo-Irish novelist, said fate is not an eagle; it creeps like a rat. She never met VP Inday, but she might as well describe her. This eagle had to creep – but where she is right now, just a step away from the presidency, is not just an idiom but an apt description. She is not only the lawful designated successor but has history on her side.

President Corazon Aquino and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the country’s first and only female presidents so far, were swept into power by popular uprisings. Aquino toppled President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in 1986, while Arroyo was sworn in after President Erap Estrada stepped down in 2001. The unrest that catapulted both ladies to the presidency was not as widespread and well-documented as the one prevailing. PBBM’s plummeting ratings tell it all.

While PR experts develop one diversionary tactic after another to distract Filipinos, there have been no serious reforms to still the ship. PBBM’s defiance to undergo a hair follicle drug test and the persistent suspicion of his inability to lead because of his drug habit, the possibility of being forced to step down from power before his term ends in 2028, looks imminent.

Plato, the philosopher, once taught: “he who does not desire power is fit to hold it.” FPRRD had repeatedly asserted that the presidency is destiny. Others say it is fate. Whether destiny or fate, the prevailing crisis is ripe for the conditions that brought the first two women presidents to power.

Will she be the third to be seated under unusual circumstances? She would be the first to waive talks about it aside, but with her popularity and trust rating heads and shoulders above the rest, it looks like VP Inday is flirting with history.