ANYTIME this coming week, the Commission on Appointments (CA), considered the “most powerful” joint committee of Congress for its power to “make or break” the career in government of those appointed by the Philippine President as well as those of our military officers from the rank of colonel and above, can be expected “to have its hands full,” so to speak.

For up for confirmation is none other than the person that some quarters, with the help of some in both the mainstream and social media, as “controversial:” Atty. Victor ‘VicRod’ Rodriguez, close friend for decades, legal counsel and spokesperson of President Ferdinand ‘BBM’ Marcos Jr.

That Atty. VicRod has the full trust and confidence of PBBM and that he has been performing the role of ‘alter ego’ to BBM on previous occasions even before BBM became PBBM, there can be no doubt.

For example, on occasions where the National Press Club (NPC) has invited BBM as guest and he cannot make it, he would send Atty. VicRod, as what BBM did during the NPC’s 69thanniversary last October. And we can be sure that the same has happened to other invitations that BBM has received.

And no thanks to the intrigues and machinations of those in the opposition (the Dilawans and the commies) and other groups who simply won’t stop in their effort to discredit PBBM and his administration this early, ES Vic had already appeared twice in less than two months for questioning by our senators not about his fitness as executive secretary but over a non-issue, actually, that of Sugar Order No. 4 (SO-4)

Regardless of whatever Sen. Risa Hontiveros has been saying, her intrigues about ES VicRod on SO-4 cannot hide the plain truth that it was ES VicRod who thwarted the proposed scam by alerting PBBM about the looming plan to import 300,000 metric tons of sugar behind his back as DA secretary.

This simple truth as well as ES VicRod’s clear non-involvement in the issue and not Hontiveros’ imagined culpability of ES VicRod are among the reasons why the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee decided to wrap up its probe on the sugar import issue after just three hearings.

Despite the hurdle but with the issue leaving a bitter taste in the mouth of the likes of Sen. Risa Hontiveros, ES VicRod would again face our lawmakers but this time on his appointment as ‘Executive Secretary.’

Expect this dead horse of the sugar import issue to be publicly flayed again by the opposition if only to delay the confirmation and cast aspersion on the character of ES VicRod.

As the President’s ‘alter ego,’ it is no wonder too that the Executive Secretary is also known as the country’s ‘Little President.’

We are confident, however, that most of our lawmakers, our senators especially, are already politically mature to know that Rodriguez, the very moment he has assumed the post of ES, is no longer his own man. He is that of the President’s.

Everything he has done since ‘Day One’ of this administration as Executive Secretary are but reflections and manifestations of what PBBM wants in furtherance of the job description the Office of the President holds.

Together with that of the President, the Executive Secretary holds a 24/7 job as it is the Executive Secretary who ensures that whatever the President wants in his official function as Chief Executive, is carried through and implemented in accordance with PBBM’s expectations.

And that is Rodriguez’s unenviable position as President Marcos’ executive secretary – the extension of the President – his official alter ego.

Ergo, whatever Rodriguez does or does not do, carries the imprimatur of the President.

And of course, not everything sits well with everybody and Rodriguez had to live with it. “It comes with the territory,” as they say.

Now, having come this far on his job as ES, it is also worth their while for the members of the CA to realize that whatever lies and intrigues some quarters have thrown—and intends to throw– against Rodriguez, the fact remains untarnished and unblemished: he enjoys and continues to enjoy, the trust and confidence of President Marcos Jr.

Meaning, contrary to ‘stories’ being peddled by his critics, whatever Rodriguez has done by far, bore the approval of no less than his boss, President Marcos. It’s that simple, hane?

For if Rodriguez has indeed usurped his power as what his critics portray him to be, President Marcos would have long sacked him, their long friendship notwithstanding.

PBBM, everyone agrees, is not dumb. And why would PBBM risk failure for his administration if the only “solution,” as proffered by his critics, is the removal of Rodriguez whom these same critics have succeeded to impose the illusion, thru their allies in the media, as ‘rotten’ and unfit for any post in government, especially as the country’s ‘Little President.’

Heck, had PBBM appointed Rodriguez as “janitor” at the Luneta Park, rest assured that the commies and the Dilawans would still have a go at his removal, we can be sure of that.

Why? Because of his known closeness with the President.

For the way we see it, one of their strategic objectives is to drive a wedge between PBBM and anyone who has earned his trust and confidence in order to undermine his decisions and policies ultimately leading to a “failure” of his presidency.

But has this administration failed yet? The answer would be a resounding ‘No!’ of course. But again, it is clear that a few among us cannot stomach the fact that a ‘Marcos’ is now again our president.

For them, this is simply too much that they have thrown decency and respect into the air by not allowing PBBM’s administration to have its so-called ‘100-days honeymoon period’ by immediately targeting the person closest to him (after his wife and family), Atty. Victor Rodriguez.

Insofar as the general public is concerned, PBBM’s administration is doing good thus far. And lest we all forget, Rodriguez, being the President’s extension, has been a major part of everything this administration has achieved up to this moment.

Given that, it would be well for the members of the CA to remember that whatever ‘judgment’ they pass on Rodriguez will also be a judgment on PBBM.

Stated another way, a rejection for Rodriguez would spell a rejection for President Marcos.

Rodriguez, after all, is the President’s alter ego.

Think about that.