Sibling rivalry or family feud?

Whatever conflict is breaking up the Marcos siblings should not have been exposed before the INC crowd of more than 600,000 Filipinos and seen and heard by more than 100 million Filipinos via TV and YouTube. It was virtually washing dirty linen in public. Senator Ping Lacson called it very "un-Filipino". But in this country, blood is not thicker than water. Politics is thicker than blood.

Whatever happened between Imee and BBM is bound to happen to Pia Cayetano and Alan Peter. It can happen to Mark and Camille Villar and to Raffy and Erwin Tulfo, as well as to Sara and Polong and Baste. In the olden times in Philippine politics, here in Cebu, our old folks would tell us that Don Filemon and his younger brother, Don Vicente, did not always see eye to eye. Sonny Osmeña did not always agree with his brother Lito, much less with his first cousins, Tom and Serge.

The Duranos and Calderon's are close blood relations but the twin brothers, Raymond Joseph of the 2nd District and Peter John of the 7th District did not support Ace Durano, their cousin. The Calderons supported Gwen Garcia which helped cause the tremendous defeat of Ace. As the Gospel according to Saint Matthew prophesied in Chapter 10:35 and Luke 12:53 predicted, brothers will be against brothers, sisters against sisters. Sons will defy their fathers and daughters will disobey their mothers. Sons-in-laws shall fight their fathers-in-laws and daughters-in-laws shall oppose their mothers-in-law.

As I wrote earlier, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, eldest son of President Erap and Dr. Loi, couldn’t see eye-to-eye with Senator JV Ejercito, Erap's son with Guia Gomez. JV's campaign moniker was "The Good One", which made Jinggoy look like the bad one. But lately, they became civil and even often bantered with each other. But today, Jinggoy is in hot water, and JV has remained the better one, even serving as majority leader under the Tito Sen Senate presidency. But both Jinggoy and JV have lost their turf in San Juan to the Zamora dynasty.

Of course, the Cayetanos are also fractured. In Taguig, Lino Cayetano lost to the candidate supported by his own brother, Senator Alan Peter, sister-in-law Mayor Lani, and his elder sister Senator Pia. Lino was the good son who donated his kidney to his late dad, Rene Cayetano. In Makati, Luis Campos, husband of former mayor Abigail, was defeated by Senator Nancy. The Binays are fractured by politics like the Aguilars and Villars. Abigail lost her Senate candidacy but Nancy is now facing a huge problem related to the flood-control fiasco.

I also wrote earlier that in Parañaque, Aileen Olivarez, wife of former mayor Eric Olivarez, challenged her own brother-in-law, Edwin Olivarez for mayor of the city where I have lived for 30 years. Eric was the mayor and Edwin the congressman. For the second time, the two brothers switched places due to term limitations. Aileen lost while Edwin and Eric won. Parañaque should be renamed Olivarez City just as Taguig is Cayetano City, and Las Piñas, the Aguilar-Villar City. Well, Cebu City used to be Osmeña City and Danao Durano City. Today, Masbate is Masbate Kho Province and Leyte Petilla Province.

Back to Imee and BBM, Madam Imelda, in her nineties, must be crying her heart out for what is happening to her children. Only Irene can conciliate and mediate her two older siblings, but she is married to an Araneta too, like BBM. Irene is closer to Bongbong than to Imee. Imee does not even look like FM. What Imee did to BBM will not be forgiven by the Ilocanos. Her sons who control the provincial government may be challenged by the two brothers of Sandro. Imee should transfer her residence to Davao and live with Sara, Polong, Baste, and Kitty.

Imee is just being used by the Dutertes nowadays in order to insult BBM and to advance the political ambitions of Sara. But once she is no longer useful, she will be dropped like a hot potato. And that's how the cookie crumbles. In this country, politics is thicker than blood