Wisdom and War

Chapter Thirteen

Amelia Cuevas has always stood tall. I watched her throughout the years, working as a human rights lawyer, a congresswoman, a senator, and now the vice president of the country. She's always persevered despite the countless issues and slander being thrown her way, especially when she ran for the second most highest position in the country. When Amelia was a lawyer, she was still known as Mikhael Cuevas, a topnotcher during his bar exam and a successful human rights lawyer residing in North Luzon. Amelia was already under the public eye before she made her transition, being involved in cases that were extremely controversial and went against politicians that were known for being a part of political dynasties. The opposition hit her hard during the last election and her womanhood was questioned constantly, especially with those who believed that someone like her shouldn't be a leader for a country that was filled with Catholics.

I watched from the second floor as Amelia walked through the lobby with Armando on her right and Felix on her left. Behind her were a group of three more people dressed in formal attires and a pin with the vice president's symbol attached to the right side of their blazers.

"I love her." Maiko breathed out from beside me, eyes wide in amazement as she followed Amelia's movements. One more thing about Amelia was that she advocated for the environment and with every typhoon or natural calamity that the country experiences, she'll be there. This only angered Crisanto more since he's already been overshadowed by the mayor who was making more of an effort than him, but to be compared to a woman who was second to him? That's a huge blow to his ego. "What do you think they have on Crisanto?"

I shrugged my shoulders and turned around to head next door where the meeting was being held. "We'll know in a few minutes." This room was larger than the usual one we used with Felix and was the same one where we met up with Crisanto. Amelia has already been here before, three years ago when one of the strongest typhoons the country has experienced in over twenty years not only brought harsh winds and rain, but a tsunami ended up wiping out almost an entire village that was set by the shore. Amelia always wore pants and a pair of heels that would either be two or three inches tall. Just like the people with her, she wore a pin on the left breast pocket of her blazer but this was an image of the Philippine flag. "Vice President Cuevas." I reached my arm out when we both stopped in front of the doors to the meeting room. Maiko had stopped behind me along with Joaquin and Elias who just arrived.

"Anita, lovely to see you again." Amelia offered a kind smile before shaking my hand. "Shall we?"

Everyone entered the room and took over their respective seats. Unlike Crisanto's visit, the atmosphere was not tense knowing that Amelia was not here to send insults and criticisms to every corner of the room. Beside her, Armando took out some folders from the briefcase he brought with him and Felix passed it around.

"Thank you for meeting with us." Armando began, linking his hands together and placing them over the table. "I know time is of the essence here, so we'll cut to the chase."I saw his eyes briefly stop once they landed on Elias who was too busy reading the contents of the folder to see Armando looking at him. It was either he was fully invested in what he was reading or he could feel Armando's gaze and chose to just ignore him. There's a high chance it's the latter. "Ever since Crisanto has expressed his...disagreement with a lot of politicians in the country, the Vice President has formed a task force that can keep an eye on his doings. There have been a few that we passed on to you since it would be too dangerous for the office of the vice president to be involved." He was definitely talking about the killings that prompted Maiko and I to visit Maharlika House that day. Felix was the one who informed us about it and we only assumed that it was a discovery of the Anzani, not a government official. "The demonstration that happened last night is enough to prove that this Crisanto's administration is more involved than we think. We have seen reports of his inner circle interacting with Morana and one of them was at the masquerade party."