IT appears and hardly contestable that people from all walks of life, whether rich or poor, educated or those lacking in formal education, from the employed to the unemployed, from the Gen Zs, millennials, Gen X to Baby Boomers, from the professionals, laborers, drivers, farmers to the overseas workers (OFWs), from east to west, and north to south of the archipelago, are in a state of dismay and hopelessness — and nearing the end of their patience over the failed governance of those who govern and the political retribution they have waged against their perceived political enemies.
The 2022 tandem of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Zimmerman Duterte brought a ray of hope to the millions of Duterte supporters that the duo would continue the legacies left by the former president Rodrigo Duterte, as pledged by the present Malacañang occupant, in the latter’s campaign for the presidency. He committed himself to fight corruption, criminality, bureaucratic red tape, the illegal drug cartel, more benefits to the OFWs, Muslim terrorists, and communist rebels. He promised to enhance the build, build, build projects that saw a dizzying height of infrastructure built and in full blast in strategic places.
He said he would pursue the same independent foreign policy of being a friend to all countries and enemy to none, and not kowtowing to the command and wishes of a foreign ally touted to be a special friend yet engaged in a one-sided relationship that make ours coming out as the exploited one. He vowed to take care of the OFWs with the same caring showered on them by his predecessor. He boasted of not only lowering the price of rice to P20 a kilogram, as well as other basic commodities, but also lowering the inflation rate.
Those who despised and shunned the Marcoses for more than three decades owing to the infamous martial law dictatorship that the president’s father inflicted on the Filipino nation, with the daughter of a beloved president, as his running mate, acting as a buffer to the notoriety of his family name, momentarily shrugged off the historical constitutional monstrosity, generously giving him the chance at redeeming and resurrecting the Marcos name, added their votes to the 31 million that placed him in the highest political post in the land.
Less than two years after the political honeymoon, a feud between the then speaker of the House, who happens to be a first cousin of the president (and who incidentally is now in jail for the capital offense of plunder) and VP Sara erupted. That started the beginning of the political vendetta that has become unstoppable. Congressional investigation by the allies of the former subjected the vice president to a biased scrutiny regarding the confidential funds given to her two offices, the Department of Education (DepEd), which she headed prior to her resignation, and the Office of the Vice President (OVP), harassing her and her chief of staff, who was incarcerated for an imagined contemptuous act and landing in the hospital from a nervous breakdown.
Thereafter, the henchmen of Rep. Martin Romualdez, following the command of their leader, initiated the first impeachment complaint, which was invalidated by the Supreme Court for violating VP Sara’s constitutional right to due process. While initially and publicly opposing the impeachment, he apparently changed his mind and did not lift a finger to derail it. The so-called quadcom of the House investigating the use of the confidential funds allotted to Sara’s two offices unleashed a barrage of black propaganda against VP Sara, accusing her before the world of misusing taxpayers’ money and unfit to remain in office.
Sensing the conspiracy to oust her as VP and to disqualify her from the 2028 presidential elections, VP Sara resigned as education secretary. Meanwhile, President Marcos began his total breakup with his erstwhile political partner by going against his previous and correct political stand that the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was then pursuing an investigation of VP Sara’s father for alleged crimes against humanity, had no jurisdiction over the Philippines and its citizens, and that the government would not support the ICC, in any form or shape. And then, conveniently using as an excuse our commitment to assist the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), the Marcos government effected the unlawful arrest, detention and rendition of the former president to the ICC detention center at The Hague upon his return from Hong Kong.
While this constitutional incursion was happening, the commitment of continuing the legacies of former president Duterte crumbled. The illegal drug trade came back with a vengeance, with the drug menace rearing its ugly head and the people walking the streets in dreadful fear for their lives as the drug cartel operates with impunity. The criminality rate previously dramatically reduced during the Duterte presidency has escalated. Prices of basic commodities are soaring; a kilogram of rice has reached a staggering P60 and is still increasing. The poverty level has spiked with the unemployed rising in numbers. There are no visible infrastructures on the horizon. The OFWs are protesting the government’s neglect of their welfare. The labor force is protesting against unfair labor practices and low wages. The farmers are complaining of government neglect. Corruption has reached an unprecedented height with legislators and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials accused of pocketing billions intended for flood control projects, with the accusation reaching the presidency. The latest Supreme Court decision declaring the 2024 and 2025 national budget enactments as unconstitutional gives validity to the accusation that the lawmakers and the approving authority are complicit in the plunder of the people’s money.
The constitutional transgressions committed in the impeachment court, like lowering the threshold for conviction of VP Sara and the recent withdrawal of the two articles of impeachment by the prosecution with an apparent collusion with the presiding officer that effectively deprived VP Sara of the right to present rebuttal evidence. The way the reputation of the second highest official of the land has been besmirched with innuendos, questionable documents, assumptions and speculations, in blatant violation of VP Sara’s constitutional rights, is so outrageous that people are on the precipice. The present dispensation is oblivious of the wrongdoings it committed against the people and continues with its plunderous ways and unconstitutionalities. It is bent on testing the limits of the people’s patience. It has not backtracked from its exercise of inexcusable negligence and incompetence in governance. It has ignored the loud protestations and calls for accountability of corrupt officials. It is deaf to the screams and blind to the scene of millions of protesters on the street crying for change and radical reforms in governance. It continues with its program of retribution against its enemies, with its corruption schemes and wayward ways. It has not stopped flaunting stolen wealth even as it plans to stay beyond its lawful stay in office. It refuses to respond to the needs of the governed. It is mocking the people’s distrust and anger. It ignores the writing on the wall of a coming political Armageddon. It pompously tests the patience of the sovereign authority that placed its actors in power.
Will it succeed in its wicked ways? Will it not stop in tempting the gods of destiny to unleash their righteous wrath on its operators?
