In my opinion, Marcos is trying to bury Sara Duterte before 2028. Impeachment. Cases. Pressure from every direction. Call it law, call it accountability. I see it as a political takedown designed to weaken Sara before the 2028 election. Meanwhile, Western media and much of the Western-aligned Philippine press seem to have already decided how this story ends. Sara is finished.
Leni is coming back. Except the polls don’t seem to agree. The latest OCTA numbers put the Sara Duterte–Robin Padilla tandem at 48%, against 36% for Leni Robredo–Bam Aquino. Pulse Asia had Sara at 49%, Leni at 26% and Raffy Tulfo at 14%. These are early numbers, not an election result. A lot can happen between now and 2028. But this is exactly why I think the Sara issue matters. If she eventually becomes president, the Philippines could see another shift in foreign policy. Marcos has moved Manila much closer to Washington. A Duterte return could bring back a different approach — less automatic alignment with the US and more room for the Philippines to balance between Washington and Beijing. And that is probably the part that matters most geopolitically. You can try to remove someone from the political race. But if the numbers keep coming back the same way, it becomes much harder to simply write them out of the story.