Feminine bile

We’ve been observing the steady decline of two females in the Senatorial race: reelectionist Imee Marcos who should, under normal circumstances, have found her campaign to be a walk in the park, and Congressgirl Camille Villar, whose vast fortune and politically-entrenched family easily propelled her to the forefront of national consciousness.

But why are they fading? The surveys show them as flagging, their slots in the magic 12 not quite certain. The gossip girls are buzzing, the vultures are circling.

Imee already has the Marcos name attached to her brand, and a national platform to operate from these past decades. Yet it’s been downhill for the veteran, and the bet is she’ll waddle away in defeat. Blame the fact that three distinct camps are now anti-Imee.

Needless to say, the diehard OG anti-Marcos/pro-Leni camp would never vote for a Marcos in the first place. Especially after ex-president Duterte was handed over to the ICC, and Imee noisily questioned his summary dispatch to The Hague --that solidified their opposition to the woman who bears the Marcos cross. This camp is the easy cross-section to understand. The others?

The popular opinion is that in order to woo the Duterte voters, Imee strayed too far from the Marcos camp, and now both Marcos and Duterte supporters are wary of her.

I would hazard the theory that regular Pinoys stress the value of family in almost every circumstance and conversation (witness how the Carlos Yulo fan base split almost immediately after his maternal squabble became public), and this inherent Filipino value has boomeranged both ways against Imee.

First, the Marcos campers don’t understand how she can take a stance separate from her brother (and cousin). They feel it is a betrayal of family solidarity. Never mind that she has publicly been making her bed in the Duterte camp for many years, and that perhaps, to Imee’s mind, she’s just being consistent.

However, if the Marcos-Romualdez camp was serious about eventually convicting Sara Duterte in impeachment proceedings, Imee’s choice to unveil Sara’s endorsement of her senatorial campaign, complete with a spectacularly clueless slogan, is a wonderful full-paid ad announcing she’s not casting her vote to convict Sara. That’s a withdrawal of Marcos resources from your campaign, traitor! I’m channeling Liza here.

Second, because of this same family-orientation, one would suppose the Duterte faction don’t trust Imee enough to believe her sincerity. She might just shimmy back to her family when it’s opportune.

Imee’s grandstanding and generally making a muck in Senate hearings to question former president Duterte’s handover to ICC custody may not have worked to fully convince the Duterte voters. The general messiness of the hearings didn’t lead to any concrete smoking gun, anyway. A pointless exercise, and it just ended up earning her enmity from justice, military, and police officials.

In almost similar fashion, Camille Villar, whose billboards were already glaringly evident as early as last year in numerous parts of the country, is perceived to be in bed with the Dutertes. Her billionaire father and politician brother have made sure of this, voicing their discomfort at the whisking-off of Duterte to foreign climes where the rule of law is still prevalent. In the calculus of Sara Duterte’s forthcoming impeachment trial, that has made her, in case she takes a Senate seat, another vote against conviction.

Camille is already unpopular as it is, the public’s discomfort with dynasties finally manifesting --unfortunately, with her as the first target. The water demolition job recently unleashed just made sure to taint her even more with oligarch dirt.

Prime Water, water distributor in parts of the country, is reported to have deprived many Filipinos of a basic need, and the fingers are pointed at the Villars. Add to that the charges of vote-buying pending before the Commission of Elections, and we see her odds of winning plummeting. Now we will see if the Villar billions will be enough to save Camille.

I guess we might see less female representation in the Senate. But with these kind of candidates? Perhaps we could look for better.