I remember a children’s rhyme about a little baby clapping its hands. But with the constant news about failed flood control projects and severe flooding from storms like Bising, Crising, Dante, and others, it seems people are thinking more about coups than clapping.

One person who called for a coup was lawyer Harry Roque, who is now at The Hague. He urged the public to go to EDSA to oust President Marcos Jr., a call that was widely ridiculed by vloggers.

One vlogger counted only 12 people at the protest, most of them ‘DDS’ vloggers, a term that now stands for “Duterte Diehard Supporters.”

He jokingly counted a man in a tarpaulin, bringing the total to 13.

But how could a dozen people possibly change the nation's presidency, even if they believed Marcos was the cause of the flooding?

While Roque’s call failed, a different kind of coup was happening in the Senate.

The Senate’s minority bloc raised concerns about the “sharing” of flood control funds, with reports from the Philippine Center for International Journalism pointing to senators like Chiz Escudero, Bong Go, and Joel Villanueva, as well as several members of the House of Representatives.

In a well-researched privilege speech, Senator Ping Lacson meticulously detailed the issues. And before we knew it, there was a coup.

Chiz Escudero was ousted as Senate President and replaced by Tito Sotto, with Ping Lacson becoming Senate Pro Tempore and Migs Zubiri as Majority Leader.

Fifteen senators agreed to the new leadership, while Escudero and his allies — including Senators Rodente Marcoleta, Robin Padilla, Bato de la Rosa, Bong Go, Imee Marcos, Joel Villanueva, Jinggoy Estrada, and Alan Peter Cayetano — were reduced to the lowest terms, a perception many had of them after they were seen as “defendants” rather than “judges” in the Vice President’s impeachment.

Meanwhile, Roque’s call to EDSA didn’t gain traction, especially with footage of him arguing with a vlogger over a plate of “humba.”

There is now talk that House Speaker Martin Romualdez could be the subject of another coup, but with more than 300 members to convince, it remains to be seen what will happen.

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