Vice-President Sara Duterte has become one big enigma to the nation.

Exactly two years after she took her oath of office as the country’s 15th Vice-President, Duterte stepped down both as Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) and as vice-chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

“Mga kababayan, ang aking pagbibitiw ay hindi lulan ng kahinaan, kundi dala ng tunay na malasakit para sa ating mga guro at kabataang Pilipino,” she declared in her resignation speech.

In asserting that her resignation was not borne out of weakness, Vice-Pres. Duterte made sure those who made life difficult for her inside the official family of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. got the message that there is more than meets the eye.

The resignation was not exactly unexpected, but just the same the nation stirred when it finally happened.

The majority of Filipinos surveyed by Publicus were opposed to the Vice-President’s resignation, but that is water under the bridge now. Just like her father, Vice-Pres. Duterte is not afraid to go against public opinion when she feels she knows better.

“I believe her resignation was inevitable from the time her father and her siblings started attacking (President Marcos) and members of the First Family,” said Senate President Francis Escudero.

Escudero of course was obviously speaking as a Marcos ally. He could not have missed the chronology of events showing the raw deal the Vice-President had been getting from supposed allies. The brouhaha over the confidential and intelligence fund and the impeachment moves against the Vice-President who was also DepEd Secretary, the desperate efforts to include her in the cases before the International Criminal Court, and the adverse findings from the Commission on Audit were all administration-sponsored.

All these attacks on Vice-President Duterte were initiated not by the old opposition from right inside the Marcos administration specifically from the majority alliance in the Lower House. Senate Pres. Escudero is entitled to his opinion but the facts clearly show the exact opposite – the attacks against the Duterte family came first and not the other way around.

The Vice-President’s younger brother, Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte was more forthright when he said he was not surprised that she resigned. Like her sister, Mayor Duterte gave no further comments that left little hint for political watchers.

With the country inching closer to war with China and with increasing domestic unrest due to a plunging economy, worsening peace and order, and widespread contempt over a failed bureaucracy, Vice-President Duterte kept her cards close to her chest when she said she “does not move for administration, but neither is she for opposition or whatever politics that is.”

What she will do next is anybody’s guess.
   
It is the time of the year when political analysts and strategists spend sleepless nights weighing every possible option to anticipate the next move. That’s easier said than done when dealing with the Dutertes – whether they work as a team or individually.

“Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing,” the still-relevant Sun Tzu pointed out long ago.

Out of the Marcos Cabinet and finally freed of the clutches of an administration with a track record of turning against its own and with the voices of dissent growing louder over increasing intolerance and repression, Vice-President Inday has her work cut out for her. 
  
As if her resignation was not enough headline material, VP Inday followed this up with a teaser about the senatorial bids of former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte, Rep. Paolo Duterte, and Mayor Duterte. When just about everybody had said their piece, PRRD casually shot it down in Tacloban.

“Do you actually believe Inday? My goodness. She’s just messing with you, especially if the question is absurd,” FPRRD said in the vernacular in response to a question last July 7.  

Author Robert Green gave an interesting observation of water that comes in handy in warfare: the faster it moves, the clearer it gets.

When she resigned, Vice-President Inday made her move. But until this time, no one can say what direction she is taking and, yes if she’s moving fast enough.

She remains an enigma, which makes her very, dangerous.