Category: impeachment

Edsa @ Malacañang ?!?

UPDATE: Vice President Sara Duterte on June 12 rejected calls by some retired military officers and other groups for her to lead a People Power movement against the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “Wala sa aking mga kamay ang pagsasagawa ng extra constitutional means to overthrow the current administration. At hindi ko din gusto ‘yun. Hindi ko gusto agawin ‘yung posisyon ni Bongbong Marcos,” she said. https://www.facebook.com/ONENewsPH/

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JUNE 10 post

In case you’re not seeing the DDS algorithm on your social media platforms, FYI lang, nagtatawag na naman ng people power ang Duterte diehard supporters para daw patumbahin si BBM.

May Tiktok video na umiikot: flashback kuno to EDSA 1986 that opens with a clip of Juan Ponce Enrile kunyari when he defected Feb 22, obviously AI, saying daw:

Lumabas kayo sa bahay ninyo, sapagkat ang bayan na ito ay bayan ng malalaya na mamamayang Pilipino.

Thing is, Enrile said nothing of the sort, ever. It wasn’t he, but Butz Aquino and Cardinal Sin, who called on the Coryistas to come shield Enrile, FVR, and RAM from Marcos, hopefully to prevent bloodshed. Enrile himself was busy preparing to defend Camp Aguinaldo, and to shoot back and die fighting in case General Ver fired the first shot.

Also, quick clips of the EDSA 1986 yellow-clad crowds, the nuns, the praying, Cory asking Marcos to to step down “so we can have a peaceful transition of government,” while the fixed onscreen graphic reads:

History repeat itself!
From Marcos vs Aquino
to Marcos vs Duterte
June 12, 2026 Independence Day see y’all.

Duterte Supporters https://www.tiktok.com/@dannellecario/video/

See y’all where? Sa Palasyo daw, ayon dito, na umiikot din sa Tiktok:

Pakikalat ang mensahe! June 12,
Tambay na tayo sa Malakanyang sa Loob ng isang Linggo
ANO NA?
Tigil muna tayo sa pagtrabaho!
Gulatin natin si BBM sa Malacanang!
MILLIONS
OF FILIPINO
RISE AS ONE!
Tambayan natin ng isang linggo!
Wa muna natin siya pasahorin!
Tigil muna tayo sa pagbubuhis!
Tigil muna tayo sa trabaho!
DOON TAYO MAGPA HINGA SA PALASYO
June 12 Araw Ng kalayaan
BBM RESIGN! https://www.tiktok.com/@zutel_46/video/

Ikonek natin sa balita ni RaMon Tulfo sa Facebook noong June 5 tungkol sa isang topsecret military conference sa Camp Crame over security concerns re a plan to storm the palace on June 12.

My tweety bird who attended the meeting in Camp Crame says the agenda was the plan to storm Malacanang by pro-Sara groups on June 12, to coincide with the Independence Day.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has received intelligence reports of a planned attack on the Palace to be led by a religious sect. According to my tweety bird , the conferees tackled the defense of Malacanang. https://www.facebook.com/isumbongmo.kaytulfo.5/

Na kinonfirm ni vlogger Pebbles Talakera 5NA:

Naloka ako pinost ni Sir Mon Tulfo….may pa surprise sana ang mga sundalo sa mga mangugulo. Ready si PBBM… ang kulto ng KOJC at INC ay kasama sa plano. https://www.facebook.com/

Saan kaya sila tatambay for one week? The streets beyond the palace barricades, I guess? We shall see soon enough who and what crowds they can muster this time. Matagal na silang nagtatawag ng people power, simula pa noong lumabas ang vangag video, pero mabibilang ang sumisipot, ke sa EDSA o sa Liwasang Bonifacio.

Mas katanong-tanong if it’s merely a distraction from the real action that seems to be looming over at the Senate, inside and outside, principally over the VP’s Impeachment Trial that the Dutertes and their allies are trying to stop at all costs.

Kailan lang may nakita akong video sa FB feed ko ng mga rallyista na nagbabatuhan ng kung ano-ano at naglalaban sa Senate grounds — mga grupong DDS-cum-INC vs. grupong BBM daw. Walang ganyan noong EDSA 1986. Walang sakitan, walang bastusan, walang batuhan. At walang AI.

Kumustahan blues

Hurt na hurt daw sina SP Alan Peter at Sen Pia Cayetano na walang nangumusta sa kanila matapos ang putukan sa Senado. With matching crocodile tears pa si Ate Pia. Ayun pala, kinumusta sila ng ilang minority senators sa group chat. Anong drama yon?

Kitang kita pati sa news reports at mga FB live at selfie nila mismo na the guys and gals of the new majority were unharmed. Even, that they were all quite pleased with themselves, having successfully established the Duterte Bloc as the majority — thanks to the four balimbings and the ICC fugitive who made a surprise appearance, and disappearance  — which means hawak ngayon ng DDS ang impeachment trial, ligtas na si VP Sara.

Yun naman talaga ang point, di ba? To take control of the trial, find devious lawyerly ways to archive the case again or, barring that, to disallow the body of evidence that show probable cause? Kaya hindi kapanipaniwala ang chismis ni Sen Imee na ayaw din ni  PBBM na matuloy ang trial dahil maa-acquit lang si VP at mananalo sa 2028 — mas gusto daw ni PBBM na mabawi ang majority at pagkatapos ay mag-ConAss para no-elections na lang sa 2028, or something wild like that.

Bottom line, ang mantra ng DDS ay: huwag nang ituloy ang trial dahil maa-acquit naman, sayang lang ang gastos at oras at pagod.

Sey ko naman, kahit pa mangyari na maa-acquit lang ang VP, importante pa rin na masaksihan at masubaybayan ng bayan ang paglilitis, marinig ang mga ebidensiya, gayon din ang mga depensa ni VP Sara, sapagkat iyan mismo ang hinihingi ng bayan, na ipinapahiwatig ng overwhelming YES to impeachment ng 214 (of 254) congressional district reps and 42 (of 64) partylist reps. Sigaw ng SuperMajority across the archipelago ang Impeachment Trial, no ifs or buts.

Kaya ang masasabi ko lang sa Cayetano sibs na nagtatampo dahil di sila kinumusta after the putukan na wala namang nasaktan: Wala ring nangumusta sa aming mga madlang pipol matapos kaming bulagain at buwisitin at galitin ng panibagong kudeta sa senado para protektahan na naman si VP Sara. Akala ba ninyo ay puro kami closet DDS na pumapalakpak at nagdiriwang? Nakakapanlumo, sa totoo lang. Hurt na hurt din kami. Kumustahin niyo naman kami.

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The Senate shift

Hindi naman ako nagulat, pero nadismaya nang lubusan, when on the very day that the Lower House approved overwhelmingly (257 of 318 ) the Articles of Impeachment vs. the VP ay saka naman nagkudeta sa Senado — biglang naging majority of 13 ang dating minority DDS bloc of 9 (ImeeMarcos, ChizEscudero, JoelVillanueva, BongGo, Bato, RobinPadilla, RodanteMarcoleta, JinggoyEstrada, AlanPeterCayetano).

Hindi lang napasipot napaapir ng Cayetano siblings (it would seem) si Bato from hiding, napabaliktad rin  ang apat na dati’y nasa Sotto majority: ang magkapatid na Villar, ang Pia na kapatid ni APC of course, and the political butterfly Legarda-cum-Leviste, mother of the kulangkulang solarboy. Dynasties all, with axes to grind, legal cases pending, staking their political futures on a Duterte comeback, kapit sa patalim.

I hope Ronald Llamas is right, that it’s a manipis, even a shaky, majority that could shift yet again, sana soon.

Sana rin sumuko na si Bato, stop giving the Senate an excuse to delay the trial. Then we will see what the Cayetanos are up to, really. They’ll be calling the shots, these two lawyers, and I imagine there’ll be a lot of legal hair-splitting over objections already raised by Sara mimso, that the charges lacked proof, the hearings were a fishing expedition, and the complainants were politically motivated.

I hope they don’t do a Makoy circa 1985. Back in the first Sandiganbayan trial of Ver et al in the Ninoy assassination case, Marcos managed to disallow all the evidence unearthed by the Agrava Fact-Finding Board that found Ver et al indictable, eventually acquitting all the accused in November ’85. We know what happened not too long after that.

Kung maniniwala tayo sa surveys taken at the height of the Justice Committee’s hearings, it would seem that the madlang pipol have heard enough allegations, and now they want to hear from the VP, there’s just no getting away from it. Never mind what Cayetano’s Bible says. I’m sure we can find another saying the exact opposite. #Forthwith

April 22 synchronicities

Sitting through most of the Justice Committee hearing wasn’t a waste of time, mabuti na lang. To my mind, probable cause was established vis a vis unexplained wealth in the impeachment case of VP Sara. “Smoking gun,” sabi ni Rep Chel Diokno. Salamat kay Sonny Trillanes. And kudos to committee chair Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro sa maingat ngunit matalim na pagtitimon. Impressive, Ma’am!

Meanwhile in The Hague, the ICC denied again the jurisdiction appeal of Duterte‘s counsel. The very next day, April 23, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber finally confirmed all charges against Duterte and committed him to trial before a Trial Chamber. Ka-abang-abang. At nakakapagpaisip. How did Digong receive kaya the news. Surely he didn’t see his life winding down on this very sad note. I suppose he thought he could get away with the killings and stealings, no one would ever dare take him to court. But he trusted Imee, made Marcos 1.0 a hero, then made Marcos 2.0 the president. What if he hadn’t.

Umeksena rin ang Supremes. Without necessarily giving due course to the petition, the Court ordered BBM and his executive secretary Ralph Recto to respond in 10 days to former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez‘s plea that the president be made to submit to health exams, including a hair follicle test. Hindi ko gets. Ang naaalala ko ay nuong panahon ng boss ni Alvarez when we’d see then President Rodrigo Duterte stumbling around, talking weird, looking half-asleep, barely paying attention, like he was high or stoned on Fentanyl or other, remember? He’d disappear sporadically, too, sometimes for a week or two, and we wondered who was running the country, and we’d ask for his medical records, and always, Duterte refused. A petition to the Supreme Court by Atty. Dino de Leon in April 2020 was simply junked by the Supremes a month later, hindi na inabala si Digong with an order to respond within 10 days. Double standard much, Your Honors?  Read “Panelo: No need for medical bulletin on President” 

Samantala sa social media, nambulaga in video si former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, whom we haven’t heard from since he resigned as speaker in the wake of the flood-control corruption scandal. Obviously na-upset dahil hindi siya pinayagan ng Ombudsman na magpuntang Singapore for a medical procedure — baka daw kasi hindi na siya bumalik a la Zaldy Co. “Fuming mad” si Romualdez, sabi ni Tony Lopez ng BizAsia. Angry enough to fight back and name Co and Chiz Escudero as the real masterminds daw, in cooperation with the executive branch. Hmm. Who next? Chiz maybe? I hear he’s threatening to name names too. Laglagan na ba, ang saya.

But the best April 22 event was Naga Mayor Leni Robredo reiterating that she is not running for president in 2028. Hindi nga naman tayo nakikinig. Tigilan na natin siya. She’s done her part. She didn’t want to run either in 2022 pero na-pressure siya into saying yes dahil VP siya noon. Pero ngayon, sa Naga na ang eksena niya, and she’s doing good there, let’s be happy for Naga!  So who might she endorse? Clearly she would be choosing among these three: Risa Hontiveros, Kiko Pangilinan, and Bam Aquino. Here’s hoping she eventually zooms in on Risa as the best choice for nation.

KATRINA S.S. [More than Bam or Kiko] Hontiveros has been at the forefront of urgent and critical investigations in the Senate, from the illegal POGO hubs to the West Philippine Sea; has been fighting with all of us for the divorce and SOGIE bills; has been an important voice on national issues since 2016, and even more so since 2022.

Hontiveros is, in fact, a level-up to Leni. The kind that will not dial back on her pro-divorce stance (as Leni did) when faced with the Catholic Church. The kind that will not suddenly compromise on her stance for equal rights and protection for LGBTQIA+ in the face of conservative criticism. The kind that can and will and has proven able to speak about democratic rights and systemic change in a language that we all understand, and in ways that are doable and imaginable and possible. https://katrinasantiago.com/