EDITORIAL — There, she said it

From what Vice President Sara Duterte Carpio told reporters following rites marking the 126th Independence Day anniversary in Davao City the other day, as far as she was concerned the UniTeam doesn’t exist anymore.

“The UniTeam was a tandem during the 2022 elections. The elections are over, we won and we are grateful to those who supported us,” Philstar.com reports Carpio as telling reporters the other day.

“We are not candidates anymore,” Carpio she later added when reporters asked about the status of the UniTeam.

There, she said it. While it might not have been as succinct as “the UniTeam is dead”, saying that the UniTeam had served its purpose for the time it was intended is saying that it no longer matters to her and that it no longer exists.

Actually the split was evident a long time ago when, as the newly sworn-in vice president, she said she asked for the Defense portfolio so she can defend herself from “attacks” by the “administration”. Those who were paying attention then should have already picked up that she didn’t consider Marcos an ally anymore.

Let’s thank the vice president for her honesty. Now we can move on from the UniTeam and any illusion that that team is still a team.

But now the question many are asking is if this means no more pretenses between the Marcos and Duterte camps. If this now means open enmity or hostility between them.

Of course, the dissolution of the UniTeam doesn’t automatically translate to hostility between both camps. However, there is also no indication that both camps have been getting along well these past few months, what with former president Rodrigo Duterte’s criticisms of the present administration as well as the present administration’s threat of siccing local as well as foreign investigators on the former president for his past transgressions.

Those who hoped the UniTeam would last beyond elections should be reminded that in politics there are no permanent allies or enemies, only permanent interests. Who knows? When their interests align again this alliance just might make a comeback.