Category: marcos

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/

Imee, EDSA, Venezuela

Hindi lang pala si Imelda, pati si Imee Marcos ay sinasabing kinidnap sila, when asked by Karen Davila to comment on “what the U.S. has done to Venezuela.”

IMEE MARCOS: … There’s a personal history here. And that’s 1986. As far as my father and my family were concerned, nakidnap kami. Napunta kami sa Anderson Air Base in American planes. We ended up in Guam, thereafter in Hickam Air Base in Honolulu. As far as my father was concerned, it was an outright kidnap. … Hindi ko sinasabi na eksaktong pareho, pero nangyari. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvbUBPhpl44 

Imee’s take is worth noting because EDSA history tells us that on Day 4 Feb 25, around 6:30 p.m. when the US choppers were already on the way to the Palace to pick them up, it was clear that Marcos indeed had no wish to leave the country but Imee and Irene wanted to.

The President’s daughters were in tears pleading with their father to make the departure for the US. They reasoned that they could not possibly come out of the situation alive, and their children, the President’s grandchildren, were with them. The Last Hours by Fe Zamora. Mr. & Ms. Mar 21-27 1986

In fact, according the Lewis M. Simons, their husbands had started packing up very early that morning of their last day in the Palace. https://edsarevolution.com/

Marcos’s two sons-in-law were supervising the packing of dozens of crates of family possessions, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold bullion and bonds, more than a million dollars worth of freshly printed pesos, as well as artifacts and jewels. These were delivered by boat to a bayfront lawn adjacent to the US Embassy. Weeks earlier, a number of bulkier items, mainly large oil paintings and other works of art, had been packed and shipped out of the country at the direction of the First Lady.

There was little sleep in the palace that night as aides scurried from room to room, sifting through cabinets and boxes filled with documents, receipts, letters, many of them incriminating. Imelda Marcos was able to provide little advice to her husband. She seemed dazed, drifting in and out of her private chapel where she knelt and prayed. Marcos’s son Bongbong and General Ver were arguing desperately with him to stay and fight. 297-298

So really, I imagine that when the Palace escapees had to stopover in Clark for the night — wala daw kasing runway lights sa Laoag Airport — and the next morning found their American saviors under orders to fly them all out of the Philippines, I imagine that no one was happier than the daughters.

Makes you wonder if she’s now complaining about being “kidnapped”?

Kinidnap nga ba #Marcos86 #Duterte2025

Since Maduro‘s “cowardly kidnapping” by the U.S. a few days ago, nabuhay ang mga paratang na si Marcos Sr din ay kinidnap ng America noong Feb 1986, at si Duterte ay kinidnap ng MarcosJr admin at isinuko sa ICC noong Mar 2025.

kidnap verb: to seize, detain, or carry away a person by unlawful force or fraud, often to hold them prisoner for ransom or in furtherance of another crime; essentially, stealing a person, taking someone against their will. synonyms abuct, seize, snatch, or capture

No debate, Maduro was kidnapped. Read Reuters‘ “Mock house, CIA source and Special Forces: The US operation to capture Maduro”.  https://www.reuters.com/

But please, not Marcos in ’86, kahit pa iyan mismo ang bukang-bibig ni Imelda nang nasa Hawaii na sila, na kinidnap sila ng mga Kano, na ang usapan ay sa Paoay sila dadalhin, desidido kasi si Makoy na mag-regroup ang AFP loyalists sa Ilocos, the plan was to retake Manila — which would have meant bloodshed, mapapalaban ang People Power. When Cory was warned, she asked the Americans to take him away and the Americans agreed and Marcos had no choice. Marcos’s mistake was to accept the Americans’ offer of help to escape the palace and to take them wherever they wanted. He could have flown to Paoay under his own steam. Presidential choppers had been on standby since Day 3 Feb 24.

And please, not Duterte in 2025. He was arrested and taken to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity. He knew it was coming. Duterte’s mistake was: umuwi pa siya. He was already in Hong Kong for that rally. We all imagined he was asking China for asylum and so it surprised us all na umuwi pa siya. China said no kasi? He had no other options? Hubris? He was assured perhaps that PBBM wouldn’t dare? At the end of the day he went along and climbed up that plane with no resistance and minimum assistance.

Kung tutuusin, yung kay Maduro ay pinaghandaan nang bonggang-bongga ng mga Kano so much so that the safe house proved unsafe and it was all out of Maduro’s hands. Pero yung kay Marcos hinged on his mistake of accepting the Americans’ offer of an escape route out of the Palace. At yung kay Duterte hinged on the mistake of coming home pa from Hong Kong. Kumbaga, from the frying pan into the fire.

Imee’s last-ditch effort for Duterte

After the initial shock of seeing, hearing, Imee Marcos on stage sa INC rally at her dramatic worst yet, publicly lambasting her brother for alleged drug addiction and pleading that he leave public office and seek treatment because she couldn’t bear it if she were to lose him…. I could only marvel at the desperation — ang lalim, at ang haba, ng hugot, harking all the way back to martial law and metrocom times, which only reminded of Archimedes Trajano, doesn’t she realize?!?

Like Philippine Star editor Amy Pamintuan, I have yet to see PBBM acting or looking like he was high or stoned in any of his televised appearances.

AMY: … I learned to spot people high on drugs, or who were addicted. The habit takes a visible toll on the body. So far, I haven’t seen either BBM or his wife in a public engagement with bloodshot eyes or looking, talking or behaving like they’re high on drugs. https://www.philstar.com/

On the other hand, I certainly have memories of the former President Rodrigo Duterte stumbling, talking weird, looking half-asleep, barely paying attention, like he was high or stoned on something or other, remember? even if DDS propagandists seem to have forgotten, deliberately, as if the current mess only started with BBM and it’s all his fault, the floods, the corruption, the economic crisis. As though Duterte never happened.

And yet I have no doubt that Imee’s meltdown is Duterte-related. Matagal na siyang kinukulit ng mga DDS to confirm the “vangag” allegations, thinking that it would be enough to inflame a critical mass that could compel BBM to step down, especially since the “kidnap” and rendition of Duterte to The Hague. Marami ring nagalit sa kanya because she wouldn’t do it, and I actually thought she never would because, you know, family — blood is thicker than water and all that.

But now that she has given in, spoken out, what flashed through my mind was a VP Sara speech back in June, noong bitbit niya si Imee kung saan-saan, Qatar, The Hague, and finally Malaysia, addressing OFWs and referring to Imee as her “hostage”.

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte has challenged Sen. Imee Marcos to bring Rodrigo Duterte back to the Philippines, noting that it was the senator’s brother, President Marcos, who had ordered the former president arrested and turned over to the Interpol and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“I always invite Senator Marcos wherever I go. I brought her along because I told her, it would not be me who will bring former president Duterte back to the Philippines because it was your brother who sent him to The Hague. You should bring him [home] to the Philippines,” the Vice President said in her speech during the 127th Independence Day celebration in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Vice President said Imee will remain as her “hostage” until her father is released. https://www.philstar.com/headlines/

It’s been eight months since Digong was arrested and detained in the Hague, and there doesn’t seem to be much hope left of a homecoming. Kaufman has been doing what he can to delay the confirmation of charges, from interim-release request to lack-of-jurisdiction challenge, and lately the mental-unfitness claim which, even if proven true, won’t mean Digong would be released just like that. He would remain in custody, undergo treatment, and every 120 days he’d be tested again, and again, just in case his mental unfitness is temporary, or something like that. https://www.abs-cbn.com/

Back in August, Kaufman was also wanting to speak with PBBM about negotiating the return of Duterte to the Philippines. The thinking seems to be that PBBM, if he cared to, could prevail on the ICC to let him take custody of Digong, and let Philippine courts hear and decide the cases against him and his accomplices. But because PBBM won’t play along, their only recourse is to  remove him somehow and install Sara in the Palace, from which vantage point she could try her damndest to harass the ICC into releasing Digong, maybe with the help of tyrants Trump and Netanyahu.

In fairness, Imee for her part did hold those Senate hearings on the irregularities attending Duterte’s arrest, and then there was that Senate resolution relayed to the ICC requesting house arrest for the former president due to health and age concerns. But all ineffectual, as in, walang epek. She must have been under pressure to do something more, try harder.

Then came the flood-control corruption scandal. Parang heaven-sent siguro, the chance to charge BBM himself for corruption, and Zaldy proved to be the willing balimbing but his paputok videos proved to be duds, raising more questions than answers. Imee had no choice but to step up, give it her best shot, while the INC JIL KOJC UPI DDS peeps were still out in the streets, maybe get them sad angry agitated enough… except that INC cut short the protest rally after her speech and sent the people home instead.

Bottom line, Imee did it not out of love for country or family, rather, out of utang-na-loob kay Digong for the Libingan ng mga Bayani favor, which happened almost exactly nine years ago, she managed to remind in that very disjointed overwrought speech. So, yes, yun pa rin ang puno’t dulo, the hero’s burial, which makes me wonder if it was worth it. What if they had settled for an Ilocos burial instead. Then Sara would not be holding Imee hostage.