Political forecast: ‘Typhoon Inday’ to cross path with ‘Bagyong Lorna’

MANILA, Philippines — If the reminder from Office of the Vice President (OVP) chief-of-staff and Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez is to prepare for ‘Typhoon Inday,’ a ranking lawmaker assures they have a cyclone of their own.

Say hello to ‘Bagyong Lorna.’

In a press briefing on Thursday, House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega V was asked to react on Lopez’s short statement after visiting the Senate earlier, where she simply told reporters to “prepare for Typhoon Inday.”

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Ortega said the preparation should be mutual because they are absent when cyclones are present.

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“They should prepare because usually when there are cyclones, they are not present.  That’s why they should prepare, because we are prepared,” Ortega said.

READ: ‘Prepare for Typhoon Inday,’ says Zuleika Lopez during Senate visit

“Ready of course, if there is a cyclone, you need to have another cyclone to counter it, so we have Typhoon Lorna,” he added.

While Lorna is not in the list of names for potential cyclones, it is the first name of one of the counsels for the prosecution team, lawyer Lorna Kapunan, who last Tuesday inquired about the presence of Vice President Sara Duterte at the Senate premises — hours before the second day of her impeachment trial.

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READ: Prosecution reserves right to have VP as witness in grave threats charge

Inday is the name of the typhoon that entered the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) on Tuesday.  While it made its way to the PAR, state meteorologists do not expect a landfall scenario, as it is on track for the northeastern part of Taiwan.

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Coincidentally, Inday is the nickname of Duterte.

During her inquiry as to where Duterte was, Kapunan also revealed the prosecution’s plan to call Duterte to the impeachment trial as a hostile witness, amid discussions on Article IV of the Articles of Impeachment or the allegations of making grave threats against ranking officials.

However, House prosecution team member San Juan Rep. Ysabel Maria Zamora said no final decision has been made on whether it is Kapunan herself who will examine Duterte.

“Again, there is no final decision yet on who will conduct the direct (examination) on the Vice President or Zuleika (Lopez), if ever they will appear, or any someone.  Everyone is ready,” Zamora said.  “Honestly, there is no final decision on who will conduct the presentation of the witness.”

Lawyer Benjamin Tolosa Jr., one of the counsel for the prosecution team, said that it will be a good thing if Duterte shows up before the Senate because people have been waiting for her answer to the allegations.

“If she will decide to do so, that has been what the public has been asking for, everyone has been waiting for her to personally respond to the serious allegations against her, because as we know we recognize and respect her right to remain silent,” Tolosa said.

“But silence does not answer serious allegations of unexplained wealth consisting of billions of financial transactions; of grave threats against the life of the President; of confidential funds amounting to hundreds of millions of pesos; and bribery in the DepEd (Department of Education),” he added.

No landfall

Ortega said that it was a good thing that Inday would not make ‘landfall’ as it means that people would not be disturbed, and the media would only have to deal with short, one-minute statements.

The deputy speaker did not mention it, but he has previously poked fun at Duterte’s short statement on Tuesday, where she said that while she expects to be “bloodied,” she will be “unbowed.”

“It’s headed for Taiwan; it seems to have moved away from the Philippines.  Well that’s a good thing because the people living in areas often hit by cyclones would not be affected and face difficult times.,” he said.

“People can work; they will not be bothered; the media would not be disturbed because statements will last for a minute only, so that’s okay,” he added.

Duterte went to the Senate on Tuesday, but it was only to meet with her lawyers, as the Vice President did not attend the impeachment trial.  This prompted Kapunan to ask whether Duterte will attend the trial proper, as they will formally request that the Vice President take the witness stand.

After Duterte’s quick visit and her short statement, Ortega said that his takeaway from this move is that the Vice President seems to have a liking for matters related to blood — from bloodbaths to being bloodied.

The first time that Duterte mentioned something about blood, in relation to the impeachment proceedings against her, was in a thanksgiving mass in Davao City last May 2025.  According to Duterte, she is eager for a “bloodbath” once the impeachment trial for the first set of complaints starts at the Senate.

However, trial did not happen back then as the Supreme Court declared the first impeachment attempt as unconstitutional, based on a petition filed by Duterte herself.

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Several lawmakers and lawyers supportive of Duterte’s impeachment poked fun at the Vice President’s alleged contradicting statements, as she wanted a bloodbath but supposedly moved to avoid it. /mr