Category: rodrigo duterte

Impeach bulaga, MacArthur Park

Sinadya kaya ng Lower House reps na literally last-minute nila isinampa ang Articles of Impeachment sa Senado, knowing very well that it was too late, the Senate had adjourned, but, well, the media mileage is worth it? Besides there seems to be much glee in putting Senate Prez Chiz on the spot — just about every other lawyer and pundit and rep is weighing in now on the meaning of “shall forthwith proceed” and insisting that the Senate must get moving, now na! Bumigay kaya si Chiz, o manindigan? Ano ba talaga ang rules?

Samantala, cool na cool si VP Sara, matagal na daw nilang pinaghahandaan ito, okey lang siya, “mas masakit pa maiwan ng boyfriend o girlfriend kaysa ma-impeach ka ng House of Representatives.” Hmm. I’m sure not, as in, not true. Unless it’s a measure of how little she thinks of country, and ipinapa-sa-diyos na lang niya ang kapalaran ng ‘Pinas, as in, “God save the Philippines”? Really?

Upon messaging her father daw that “Everything will be all right”, former President Duterte sent her daw a video of him singing “MacArthur’s Park”, a sixties song, boomer times, about the end of a love affair. Na medyo appropriate nga naman if we look back on the BBM-Sara hook-up. When did it start going wrong? Was it doomed from the start?

The Duterte-Marcos alliance was already there when Duterte won the presidency in 2016 (BBM lost as VP to Leni). That he immediately allowed the burial of FEM in the Libingan ng mga Bayani told us all we needed to know, that it was a bayad-utang for the Marcos-loyalist vote. Maybe he needn’t have. Maybe he would have won anyway. And maybe if he hadn’t allowed the burial, and the dictator Marcos’s right to be buried as hero continues to be questioned, maybe we wouldn’t have a Marcos back in the palace? I can imagine Dutz singing this part with gusto, and regret.

Someone left the cake out in the rain 
I don’t think that I can take it
‘Cause it took so long to bake it 
And I’ll never have that recipe again
Oh nooooo

Teatro Digong

Obvious naman kung bakit umapir si Digong sa QuadComm hearing. Gusto niya maalaman, firsthand, what they have on him, and, also, to generate fresh social media content that would bolster his Quad-damaged image.

DDS vloggers now have a lot of new stuff to cut up for a series of quick videoclips | soundbites that depict the Digong in all his defiant glory, daring Congress and the DOJ to charge him in court for the EJKs during his admin’s drug war. He seems confident, even as he takes responsibility for the kill-pagnanlaban-policy, that no court would convict him for police criminality, correct me if I’m wrong.

He reminds that he’s a lawyer, a former fiscal and prosecutor, a police academy teacher even, and he knows the law and how it works.  Let’s not forget, too, that the Supreme Court’s chief justice and 12 (of 14) associate justices are Digong appointees. Surely that counts for something. https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/incumbent-justices/

All in all, it was a fascinating 14-hour show of machismo on both sides of the divide, entertaining even, with Digong giving as good as he got, contodo surprise appearance by VP Sara to check on him, kumain na ba, or something like that? — best supporting actress to his best actor.

I actually sat through most of it. I could never sit through his monologues of yore, nakakapagod just trying to get the rhythm of his multi-lingual-speak and only to be shocked dismayed depressed. The question-answer format was quite restful all around, lol, long-winded interpellations and manifestations also gave him, us, long-enough breaks to recharge.  After a while I was finding it hilarious the way he would give different, contradictory, answers to the same question. Asked about the ICC, he went from Sipain-ko-sila to I-would-welcome-them to Ayoko-sa-puti. Na puro kapani-paniwala, coming from him. And all quite spontaneous. Alin doon ang “istorya lang”? It’s like, live audiences turn him on, and as with good stand-up comedians, we can expect the unexpected.

Meanwhile, the Quad apparently is still a long way from achieving its ambitious goal of tying up EJKs with POGOs with Chinese syndicates with the illegal drug trade. Digong’s near-violent reaction to Sonny Trillanes’s charge of ill-gotten wealth — some P2.4 billion in deposits to Digong’s bank accounts from 2007 to 2015 allegedly from drug money — tells us that he’s not about to waive his right to keep secret the bank accounts he jointly holds with Honeylet and Sara.  He has even threatened to sue Trillanes for libel and accuses him of being a BBM minion.

And speaking of BBM, I just heard a couple of macho liberal kinda-konyo pinklawan vloggers freaking out that Martin Romualdez is still the Marcos camp’s preferred bet in 2028 in anticipation of a  Sandro run and win in 2034. These social media pundits think there’s no way Martin can beat Sara BUT they actually believe that Leni Robredo can !?!

What is this romance with Leni? Totoo bang may panalo? Hmm, only if, in a two-way race, with the full support of the Marcos-Romualdez camp. Fat chance that. In a three way race, Leni doesn’t have a chance just because hindi siya kilala ng masa. Wala siyang public presence, except to her naive middleclass loyalists. And she has yet to level up from motherhood statements, much like the macho liberal senatoriables, when they could be talking fundamental change, if only for starters.

To wrap up, it bears noting that I’m seeing replays of the Digong sa QuadComm on two TV channels. Frankly, I’m not sure which camp this helps more. But Congress seems to think it’s a good idea.

Dogging Digong

Trump’s wild comeback does not remind so much of the Marcos comeback in 2022 (via the son) as it does WARN of a Duterte comeback in 2028 (via the daughter). What else could the synchronicity of QuadComm hearings and Trump’s victory mean, or portend, if not some corresponding, or similar, outcome for the Duterte dynasty, that is, if they try hard enough (as Trump and the Republicans did). No wonder the DDS camp is overjoyed, may pag-asa talagang makabalik.

But not, it would seem, if the QuadComm can help it. Why else would they be dogging him, as in, hounding him by investigating the extrajudicial killings that the Duterte admin’s drug war wrought, updating nation on the latest facts and figures, and giving voice to the victims and families of victims, not least among them Leila de Lima, if not to remind us of those difficult days when human rights were violently violated left and right and yet martial-law vibes became acceptable daw because, wow, no more drugs, no more crazed addicts preying on women in dark streets, peace and quiet at last, even if of the dark kind.

It’s like the Quad is leaving no stone unturned to uncover as much credible information as possible, hopefully enough to compel the DOJ to file formal criminal charges against the former president and his cohorts. Due process and all that. Meanwhile, Quad chips away at the Duterte brand, rendering it exposed, if not diminished. I suppose the idea is to make it difficult, if not impossible, for DDS candidates to win in 2025’s midterms.

What about VP Sara and her super-confidential confidential funds ? I-i-impeach nga ba ng Konggreso? Makisama kaya ang Senado? I’ve been monitoring the discourse among social media macho pundits and because a couple of reps have said that there’s enough evidence to impeach, there’s a sense na the Lower House will, should, begin proceedings soon or else they’ll run out of time, campaign season na by Feb 11, sayang naman ang momentum, or something like that.

Others think it’s not going to happen yet, let her stew, kumbaga. Tila kasi wala palang Plan B ang Marcos camp nang di nakalusot o pumatok ang chacha-to-parliamentary with House-Speaker-as-Prime-Minister scheme.  The Marcoses of course need to be sure that the next president is one of them, if not by blood then by affinity and/or complicity. But Martin simply isn’t simpatiko enough to “win hearts and minds” even of the gullible kind.

A lot will depend on how the midterms turn out. But no-thanks-to-Trump there’s a palpable sense of dread — especially now that we are being reminded of the Digong years — regarding a Sara Duterte win in 2028, and for now we can only hope that the incumbent and his peeps have the smarts to thwart that.

Digong Under Oath

It was unexpected, that Digong showed up and under oath admitted, among other things, to stuff that Sen. Bato denies, joke lang daw LOL. The real joke is that Bato and Sen. Go, the ones named by witnesses re Duterte’s drugwar operations in QuadComm House hearings, were allowed to be part of the investigating panel rather than made to sit with Digong to be investigated, questioned, too, under oath.

Laguna Rep Dan Fernandez noted that Dela Rosa ended up “interrogating resource persons” when “common sense dictates (that you) cannot be part of any investigation that you yourself are involved in.”

“He is one of the accused, but he is also part of the jury?” he added. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1999082/house-members-hit-leeway-given

That the Senate was at once bashed by anti-DDS social media pundits for giving the former prez a platform yet again to rant and curse and be bastos — thank goodness for Sen. Risa #bullyforher — was expected. Unahan kasi na mag-livestream with immediate “analysis” na mostly kneejerk reactions, na usually full-of-oneself if not highly biased for or against whatever whomever.

Senate Prez Chiz was quick to respond: https://legacy.senate.gov.ph/press_release/

While noting that the testimonies made by Duterte during the Senate committee hearing were largely the same as when he was still in power, Escudero said the difference now is that he provided the latest utterings about the war on drugs under oath.

“Ang pinagkaiba kahapon, lahat ng binitiwan niyang salita kahapon ay under oath. Pinanumpahan at sinabi niya na ‘yan ay totoo abot sa kanyang nalalaman na pwedeng magamit kung saka-sakali pabor o laban sa kanya,” Escudero said.

He said the statements of Duterte were recorded and transcripts of the public hearing will be released for the reference of whichever party is interested and for the general public to peruse.

Unlike before when the spokespersons of former President Duterte defended his strong statements about the killing of drug personalities as merely words said in jest, Escudero said Duterte cannot claim the same now because he testified under oath.

I wonder now if this is Digong’s way of getting charges filed against him in court to somehow preempt the ICC. Nothing to lose? But if this be so, QuadComm is the way to go.