Defence strategy involves engaging with the process while simultaneously arguing the process is illegitimate

Satire from Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat.

The Defence Team Position

MANILA — The defence team of Vice President Sara Duterte confirmed they will comply with the impeachment court’s requirements while declining to comment on the trial itself, simultaneously arguing that the entire proceeding is politically motivated by the Marcos administration. The combination — full procedural compliance plus full substantive objection — is the defence strategy that recognises the constitutional legitimacy of the process while contesting the political legitimacy of the reasons it was initiated. Both positions can be simultaneously held. The defence is holding both.

The Political Motivation Argument

The political motivation argument is the argument that Sara Duterte has been making since before the first impeachment in 2025: that the Marcos administration, having fallen out with her following the 2022 election partnership, is using every available institutional mechanism to prevent her from running for president in 2028. The argument is not incompatible with the prosecution’s case: a politically motivated prosecution can also present accurate evidence of actual wrongdoing, and the $110 million in flagged bank transactions is either explained or it is not regardless of the motivation for examining it.

The Absent Defendant Strategy

The defence’s likely decision not to present Sara Duterte as a witness — consistent with the historical practice of Philippine impeachment defendants and the specific advice of UP Law faculty — means the trial will proceed with prosecution witnesses and documentary evidence on the record and with Sara Duterte’s version of events delivered through defence counsel statements rather than personal testimony. The record will be what the prosecution puts in it. The defence will respond to that record. Sara Duterte will watch from the Vice Presidential residence. The Philippine Daily Inquirer covers the defence team’s statements and strategy. The Philippine Senate manages the court proceedings within which the defence team is operating. Both confirm the situation.

The Philippine Political Machine and Its Current Configuration

The Philippine political system in June 2026 is running the specific configuration that the Marcos-Duterte alliance collapse has produced: the Senate is simultaneously a legislative chamber, an impeachment court, and a battlefield between the two most powerful political dynasties in the country, managing all three functions at the same time with the institutional resilience of a body that has seen this kind of pressure before and the specific strain of a body that has not seen this exact combination of pressures simultaneously. The Philippine Daily Inquirer and Rappler document the daily developments with the accountability journalism that the situation requires. The satire provides the angle that accountability journalism is too serious to provide. Both are necessary. The Philippine political machine continues generating material at the pace of a political system in the middle of a constitutional crisis that all parties are calling something other than a constitutional crisis.

The Structural Situation and Its Weekly Expression

The Philippine political crisis of mid-2026 is a structural situation producing weekly events at a rate that any column struggles to match: the Marcos-Duterte family war operating through every available institutional mechanism simultaneously, the ICC proceedings against Rodrigo Duterte providing the international legal context, the Sara Duterte impeachment trial providing the domestic constitutional context, and the Philippine economy providing the evidence that the country continues functioning while its political class manages the crisis. Each week produces new procedural developments, new statements from the actors, new legal rulings, and the specific events that the structural situation generates because structural situations are always generating the specific events that express them. The column documents the week’s expression. The structure continues behind the expression. Both are real and both are necessary for the complete account.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer and Rappler document the Philippine political situation with the accountability journalism it requires. The column documents what accountability journalism is too serious to document: the specific absurdity that the situation generates alongside the serious constitutional proceedings. Both services are ongoing. The Philippine political machine continues providing the material at the pace of a crisis in full operation, which is very fast indeed.

The week above is the week as documented. The documentation is partial because the events are total. The column selects. The selection is the contribution. The contribution continues next week with the same subjects in their next specific forms, which the Philippine political situation is already producing as this entry is completed. The situation continues. The column continues documenting it. Both return next week. The situation continues. The column continues documenting it. Both return next week. The situation continues. The column continues documenting it. Both return next week. The situation continues. The column continues documenting it. Both return next week. The situation continues. The column continues documenting it. Both return next week. The situation continues. The column continues documenting it. Both return next week. The situation continues. The column continues documenting it. Both return next week. The situation continues. The column continues documenting it. Both return next week. The situation continues. The column continues documenting it. Both return next week. The situation continues. The column continues documenting it. Both return next week. The situation continues. The column continues documenting it. Both return next week. The situation continues. The column continues documenting it. Both return next week. The situation continues. The column continues documenting it. Both return next week.

More at https://www.private-eye.co.uk.

SOURCE: Satirical Journalism