Duterte must be secretly in favor of Leni

The issue of vaccines has become staple news almost of the same magnitude as COVID-19 itself. And every now and then, right there among the unending stream of vaccine stories, pops up this disturbing story of how President Duterte, now 76, has continued to remain unvaccinated. No story could be more unsettling than this, the only exception being the pandemic itself.

The continued non-vaccination of Duterte is unnerving because he is the president. He is not just the mayor of some city in the province, he is the leader of a country of 110 million people, the 13th most populous in a world of more than 200 countries. Unnerving because, while teeming with people, its economy is fragile and its system of governance lacking in maturity.

While Duterte is hugely popular owing to his double persona of being a harsh uncompromising disciplinarian while retaining the aura of a good, warm, and loving father, he is not exactly divine. As human as the rest of us, the presidency offers him no guarantee nor shield against COVID. He can catch the virus anytime. And at any time, considering his age, he can very easily keel over.

If that happens, the leadership of the country will automatically be handed over to Leni Robredo, the vice president. Belonging to opposite sides of the political fence, Duterte and Robredo had been bickering almost as soon as they were elected. Worse, much of the bickering had been about the pandemic and how Duterte is leading the nation through it.

As bad as it is that a country's top two leaders cannot see eye-to-eye in normal times, it is worse when they cannot see eye-to-eye in a pandemic, when there ought to be a unified effort against an unseen enemy. But even more terrible than that is an unexpected change in leadership, especially in a manner that, to have one, one must relinquish the other as a painful cost and regrettable statistic to COVID.

But that is precisely what could happen if Duterte continues to tempt fate by continuing to remain unvaccinated going into yet another round versus COVID. Each day that passes that Duterte survives is a day that is added to the odds of him getting infected. Each day that passes that Duterte stays unvaccinated is a day moved closer to Leni's date with history as his successor.

There is nothing wrong with Leni taking over the presidency as successor to Duterte in case he is incapacitated. At least that will prove our weak democracy still works. What is not right is that Leni might not be cut for the awesome responsibility of leading a nation of 110 million through the very certain uncertainties of a pandemic.

Surely, this eventuality could not have been lost to Duterte himself since for the eventuality to happen, something must happen to him first. So why is he not taking any move to forestall such an eventuality? Could it be that he actually wants the eventuality to happen, if secretly? Is Duterte paving the way for a Leni takeover without appearing to be? Does Duterte like Leni? Or is Duterte laying a trap for which he is willing to pay the ultimate price?