Category: marcos

IMEEproblema, IMEEsolusyon

When PBBM announced that Senator Imee was one of the 12 senatorial candidates of his Alyansa 2025, it wasn’t totally unexpected, kahit pa panay ang patutsada ng senadora sa maraming policies of the kapatid’s admin. Blood is thicker than water, after all?  Except that Imee was a no-show at the convention, and the very next day, death anniv of Ferdinand Sr., she released a video thanking her bro, sabay announce that she chooses to run as an Independent.

35 na taon ng nakalipas ngayong araw mula nung pumanaw ang ama ko, ngunit buhay na buhay ang mga aral nya sa aking puso. Kaya’t bilang panganay niya, pinipili kong manindigan nang malaya’t matatag, tulad niya; na wala na dapat kampihan kundi ang Sambayanang Pilipino.”
https://www.facebook.com/ImeeMarcos/videos/523695270524068 

Umm… Marcos was with the Liberal Party until 1964, with the Nacionalista Party during his presidencies 1965 – ’72, “independent” only during the dictatorship 1972 – ’86. But whatever. I imagine that Imee is playing to Marcos loyalists, even as Duterte’s Diehard Supporters (DDS) are demanding na ilaglag niya unequivocally si BBM. Otherwise daw it’s like she’s just namamangka sa dalawang ilog, which she denied in a press briefing with Senate reporters today. https://www.facebook.com/

I’m not sure  that it’s not just more of the sibs playing good-cop-bad-cop to disarm us, even as their kids quietly follow in their footsteps. Lalo na’t hindi naman daw na-offend si BBM: welcome pa rin daw si Imee in case she wants to join the Alyansa’s sorties. https://www.tiktok.com/@newswatchplusph/video

Likewise this from Philstar‘s Cito Beltran gives Imee the benefit of the doubt.

Blood is thicker but venom is a killer
https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2024/09/30/2388918/blood-thicker-venom-killer

At face value, the inclusion of Senator Imee Marcos in the administration’s list of candidates may have seemed like a conciliatory gesture. It was certainly a surprise to people who have followed the political K-drama in Malacañang, where Senator Imee has been treated more as an outsider than presidential relative for at least a year if not more.

It’s tempting to call her inclusion as political window dressing to show that the Marcos Unity Team stands strong against all foes. To take it a step further, it was obviously an attempt to break the Imee-Sara alliance or friendship forged during Imee’s period of “destierro” and paint Imee as a “compromising politician” if she abandoned Sara Duterte.

But to her credit and lessons learned, Senator Imee stood her ground, politely thanked the administration for the inclusion and in the same breath declared her independence. That was a very polite “Thanks, but no thanks.”

It is often said that when it comes to family, “blood is thicker than water.” But judging from the many hits and hurts that Imee Marcos suffered from relatives and ex-friends, I surmise that Imee’s version is now: “Blood is thicker, but venom is more poisonous.”

With all her political experience and wisdom, Imee knows a possible set-up or booby trap come campaign and election time. If Senator Imee relies on her being a presidential sister and administration candidate, she could be left hanging in terms of funds and political support. Imee knows that more than anything, she is window dressing for the administration for many reasons.

But when the campaign and elections get really tough and close, favor will go to the candidates who bring something to the table apart from family ties and an independent mind. Many of those in the administration’s senatorial line-up represent a political party, a bailiwick, interest groups, funds or star power. With PBBM already President, Imee brings nothing else. The chances of her being dropped or “malaglag” are high and inevitable.

She has no guarantee that she will have the full support of the administration, particularly a Congress headed by Speaker Romualdez. Deny it as much as they want, but even their own friends and relatives swear that there is no love lost between them. Instead, it’s all distrust and distaste.

Declaring herself to be an “independent candidate” allows Imee to have her cake and eat it too. She can thumb her nose at those who cancelled her politically, show Filipinos the value of loyalty to those who stood by her during her political “exclusion” and prove to the Duterte supporters that she has courage as much as her friend Sara Duterte.

There is a popular post on social media that says: “Don’t stay where you are disrespected. Go where you are recognized.” If Senator Imee lives up to her independence, loyalty to friends and cause and continues to be tactical and strategic in her narrative and objectives, she may have more to offer to voters than the troublemakers or “Gawa Gulo” inside the administration.

ATTN: PBBM & Friends #Gifts

In the beginning I didn’t think it was worth blogging about just because it seemed open-and-shut : the prez is immune from suit until he steps down from office AND there’s no chance that the House of Reps would impeach him meanwhile.

But this sum-up from Michael Henry LI. Yusingco, lawyer and research fellow at the Ateneo Policy Center, cited in Business World‘s “Analysts: Marcos may have violated law with Duran Duran birthday bash”, changed my mind.

Yusingco … said Section 7 of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials [RA 6713] provides that public officials and employees “shall not solicit or accept, directly or indirectly, any gift, gratuity, favor, entertainment, loan or anything of monetary value from any person in the course of their official duties or in connection with any operation being regulated by, or any transaction which may be affected by the functions of their office.”

Presidential Decree No. 46, a decree signed by no less than Mr. Marcos’s father and namesake, states that it is punishable for any public official or employee, whether of the national or local governments, to receive directly or indirectly, and for private persons to give, or offer to give, any gift, present or other valuable thing on any occasion. “Even if presidential immunity takes precedence in this case, that argument must still be made,” Mr. Yusingco said in an e-mail. “At this point, the wrong that needs to be corrected goes beyond what is provided by law.”

“It’s all about doing the right thing in the context of our problems with patronage politics, graft and corruption, and bureaucratic inefficiencies.” [bold mine]
https://www.bworldonline.com/editors-picks/2024/09/17/622180/analysts

It’s definitely an “ATTENTION: PBBM & Friends” moment — just in case they truly didn’t know that the law prohibits private citizens from giving costly gifts to the President AND prohibits the President from accepting such gifts, simply, plainly, because such gifts are a kind of bribery, a way of currying favor with him for some future high position or huge contract or mining concession or tax exemption or land reclamation or flood control project — sky’s the limit on corrupt deals upholding the personal-private rather than the public interest.

Of course it is quite possible that PBBM and his billionaire friends KNEW that gifting the prez with Duran Duran Live! — believed to have cost around a million US dollars — is against the law but went ahead anyway either because (1) they were naive enough to think that they could keep it under wraps or (2) they were feeling invincible, beyond the reach of the law, as the OG Marcos and his cronies were?

Which might explain why the invite to “PBBM @67” kindly asked guests to “keep the vibes cozy and private” …. “skip the photos and videos” … “if possible, leave your phone in the car” … “or check it in at the reception desk” … “make this night extra special and intimate.” https://www.facebook.com/

News of Duran Duran LIVE! leaked out anyway, thanks, it is rumored, to sis Imee who gate-crashed, snapped a photo of the band performing, and sent it to a DDS vlogger based in China who posted about it on Facebook, claiming that the band was flown in using public funds and urging the public to go and join the fun.

The very next day the Palace denied the use of public money: the band was a gift of “old friends” …  “at no cost to the government”.  Besides, it was a welcome surprise at the end of a hard day’s work (distributing a total of P3.19 billion in government aid to the provinces).

Pundits had a field day dissing the Palace response.

One said the Palace shouldn’t have dignified the Duran Duran buzz with an official statement. Really? As though there was no alleged wrong-doing that had to be denied or justified?

One said that the prez should not have indulged Duran Duran & friends with his presence, he should have snubbed the event. But what if he was truly surprised?  What was he to do then — walk out of the event? Leave, and disappoint, family and friends to party without him, the celebrant?  Medyo unthinkable that BBM, or anyone, is capable of that.

The best responses yet — because law-abiding na, doable pa — came from Ronald Llamas and Winnie Monsod. Puwede kasing  naganap ang Duran Duran Live! event without controversy, or puwedeng na-damage control agad nang maayos.

Akbayan activist Llamas is all over the place these days, apparently the favorite political pundit of today’s crop of eager beaver podcasters. Sorry I can’t find the video, possibly with Christian Esguerra or Richard Heydarian or Politiskoop or Storycon (if not all of the above), where he pointed out that the ONLY ones who are allowed to gift PBBM with expensive gifts are members of his immediate family.

According to RA 6713 Section 3d, that means only the spouse and children below age 18 (RA6713 Sec3d). So if it had been the First Lady pala who had spent for Duran Duran or who would spend for the next surprise, no problem. Good to know.

Say naman ni Prof. Winnie Monsod on Cielo Magno‘s “Usapang Korupsyon”:

Who would be stupid enough to give a gift [of that magnitude], unless they expect something in return. If not now, maybe later. …  If I were the president and I was surprised by that gift, obviously I could not possibly say, Go away, Duran Duran…  I would have to repay that person who gave me the gift, whatever he spent to give me Duran Duran. Obviously.  https://www.facebook.com/cielomagno/videos/1067077645425752

Oo nga. And I imagine that it’s not too late. Huwag lang sana sa confidential funds kukunin ang Php55 million or so. Good luck to us.

VP Sara’s offensive

It was quite a startling show of hubris and chutzpah, the way VP Sara Duterte (of the 32.2 million votes) went on the offensive in the budget hearing where the House Reps dared make her kulit about how she spent past confidential funds instead of just focusing on the 2025 OVP budget.

Sara was likely still smarting from the Senate hearing that surfaced her Php10million children’s book project which has since been the talk of the hard-up indie writing and publishing world. And the Reps’ public hearing was the perfect platform to show her disdain for Congress by refusing to answer questions from a “convicted child abuser” (medyo unfair), trading snide for snide, and venting her own grievances, among them the rumors of HOR plans to impeach her, never mind that certain Reps have denied it again and again.

At some point it was clear that the VP was baiting daring challenging the Reps to cite her in contempt but the Reps didn’t bite. I suppose because there are other ways to skin a cat? Read “Unhinged” by Philstar’s Ana Marie Pamintuan. https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2024/08/28/2381011/unhinged

The hearing was held on the same day that the second quarter OCTA survey results were released, showing BBM’s trust ratings rising and the VP’s falling, with the President rating higher than the VP for the first time.

If VP Sara’s game plan for the budget hearing was that the best defense is a good offense, it didn’t succeed. It was painful watching the VP in her bratty worst, answering questions about the budget with non-sequiturs, and showing zero respect for committee on appropriations chair Stella Quimbo.

Perhaps all the frustrations over the loss of the VP’s perks – the P650 million in confidential funds, her Cabinet portfolio and seat in the anti-communist task force, and likely rejection even of the P10 million for her children’s book project – had all boiled over.

In going ballistic, the VP came off unhinged.

Even folks who had no love lost for Quimbo and several of the lawmakers at the hearing found themselves cheering for the House members.

If the VP keeps this up, by the time the 2028 elections roll around, her ratings could be below zero like her staunch supporter GMA in the twilight of the Arroyo presidency.

Impeaching VP Sara won’t even be necessary.

Unless, of course, the BBM admin messes up on Quibuloy, the West Ph Sea, and the POGO ban. Then all bets are off.

Polvoron highs

If you’re paying attention to the DDS campaign to oust PBBM that’s happening on social media, you would be coming to the conclusion that the DDS camp is seriously thinking People Power: Kung nagawa natin sa ama noong 1986, kaya nating gawin sa anak ngayong 2024. And you just know that the DDS dream is for VP Sara to take over — she should never have slid down to veep, she could would have beaten BBM.

These days ang isyung nangingibabaw na naman vs BBM is that he was known to be a cocaine user — may bagong witness pa na taga-Davao na dating kerida ng isang kabarkada etc. etc. when BBM was in the Senate — and the DDS say that the people are asking for proof that he’s not using any longer, and that long-term use has not negatively affected his mental faculties and decision-making capacities so important in running the country, atbp.

The same sort of questions we asked of PRRD back in the days when he looked sick and stumbling or just plain slow and barely understandable, and he admitted to being on Fentanyl — a potent and highly addictive prescription drug — for severe pains. If memory serves, we also asked for an official medical report to assure us that  he was still up to the demands of running a government, and the Duterte admin completely ignored such questions.

Maybe the DDS peeps and vloggers have forgotten, or maybe they hope we’ve forgotten.

And what if, even if, a credible witness steps up with indubitable proof that the prez continues to use in private, would not the president enjoy immunity from suit?

ANTONIO T. CARPIO : Under Philippine law the President enjoys immunity from suit and cannot be investigated or prosecuted for any criminal offense while he remains in office. https://opinion.inquirer.net/137151/presidential-immunity-from-suit

I imagine that this would be when “People Power” could come in. The question is, would the DDS be able to rouse and mobilize a critical mass to oust the prez nonviolently as in EDSA?

Hard to tell, actually. Magugulat ako, either way.