The country is preparing for two very different storms.
One is a super typhoon that will be called Inday once it enters the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), bringing winds strong enough to uproot trees, flood communities, and force families to evacuate. The other is Vice President Inday Sara Duterte, whose impeachment trial has once again gathered the country’s political forces into a spectacle that feels less like a search for accountability and more like a season finale everyone insists they aren’t watching.
PAGASA tells us to secure our roofs, stock food, charge our power banks, and prepare for power outages. Political analysts, meanwhile, tell us to secure our patience, stock popcorn, charge our phones, and prepare for another flood of headlines, speeches, and endless debates.
The weather bureau says Typhoon Inday will likely keep its strength as it enters the country. Sara Duterte arrived at the Senate saying she would emerge “bloodied but unbowed.” It is a line fit for political theater, reminding us that in the Philippines, public office often comes with a script.
The strange thing is that weather forecasts are easier to understand than political ones. PAGASA can tell us where a typhoon is headed. No one can say for certain where this impeachment trial will end.
Officials are prepositioning relief goods. Social media has already prepositioned memes.
Unlike a typhoon, the political storm has no forecast track. There is no cone of uncertainty because uncertainty is the forecast. Will this impeachment strengthen accountability, or simply deepen political divisions? Will it become another chapter in the country’s long-running saga of personalities overshadowing principles? Only time will tell.
Still, there is an irony impossible to ignore. While one branch of government prepares for fierce winds and torrential rain, another prepares for legal arguments and procedural battles. Both require coordination, discipline, and public trust. These are commodities that often seem scarcer than emergency supplies
As Filipinos, we know how to survive storms. We tape windows, fill water containers, and look after neighbors. We have learned resilience because we have had little choice. Perhaps that same resilience should extend to our democracy.
For now, the nation watches two Indays. One may shake our homes. The other may shake our institutions. Either way, it is wise to keep the emergency kit close.
We can only hope that when both storms are over, what remains standing is not just our houses, but also our faith in the institutions meant to protect the nation.
