The pusillanimous and the combatants

IF you were observant enough, or if you were an avid tracker of official pronouncements from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s official family, you must have noticed the mostly anodyne statements-cum-official pronouncements from most of the top people in it. More often than not, the statements from Cabinet members and heads of the critical agencies outside of that Cabinet are couched in technocracy: safe, nonpolitical, noncontroversial.

You get the feeling there is a deliberate effort on the part of Marcos’ apparatchiks to be nonpolitical and noncontroversial despite that what they are holding are essentially political positions, all courtesy of the president, who has a definitive political agenda to pursue. Remember, these Cabinet-level appointments require confirmation from the Commission on Appointments, and the presidential push needed for most confirmations is, for all intents and purposes, a political act. It is disingenuous for members of the official family to claim they are above politics and strictly nonpolitical.

You also get the feeling that the blandness or deliberate effort to be nonpolitical and noncontroversial is aimed at one thing: they don’t want to offend the Duterte political family. Some may be even harboring the secret desire for continuity and possible appointments in a Sara Duterte presidency.

Who knows what thoughts these apparatchiks of abject pusillanimity have been harboring in pursuit of their personal ambitions? Indeed, who can fathom their refusal to fight the political wars of Marcos, their principal?

In direct contrast to these apparatchiks unwilling — or too cowardly — to fight the political wars of their principal — some are even subtly auditioning for jobs in the next administration — we have people with the predisposition to do the opposite. The Duterte camp has placed them on the list of political combatants in service of Marcos’ interests.

They have been consistent in one area: getting under the skin of Duterte supporters through acts that sometimes border on provocation.

In direct contrast to the refusal of most members of Marcos’ official family to get dragged into political frays, his combatants seem to relish every encounter with the Duterte people. Topping the list of those willing to be such gladiators are National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro and Presidential Adviser for Poverty Alleviation Larry Gadon.

Is it true, as Matibag has claimed, that the germinating seed that led to his decision to look into the alleged anomalies in the 2019 construction of the New Clark City Sports Complex in Tarlac was of recent vintage? That, during the recent handover of 70 hectares of land at New Clark City — where the NBI will build its training academy — he “stumbled” upon evidence that will support a reinvestigation into those alleged anomalies?

Or is it the other way around?

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who was earlier investigated for his role in the reportedly graft-tainted construction of the New Clark City Sports Complex, claims that Matibag’s investigation is clearly motivated by political vendetta. The investigation has something to do with Cayetano’s outspoken role as a senator-judge in the impeachment trial of close political ally Vice President Sara Duterte and not the actual facts of the case, according to the senator.

We don’t know who is telling the truth? Did Matibag really “stumble” upon verifiable evidence of construction anomalies after the handover of New Clark City land for his training academy? Or, is it, as Cayetano claimed, a premeditated move on Matibag’s part to get him, with the alleged backup evidence as an afterthought.

Time will tell on whose version hews to the truth. In the meantime, if Matibag’s intent is to rattle Cayetano by placing question marks on his integrity, he has succeeded. The timing of the NBI chief’s planned probe on Cayetano and the alleged anomalies in the sports complex’s construction come amid polls that say the Senate is the least trusted agency of government. With the loss of public trust stemming mostly from the alleged involvement of senators in large-scale corruption. Alleged corruption that Matibag is now pinning on the Bible-quoting Cayetano based on what he claims is solid evidence.

As for Castro, although she lacks the verbal dexterity, intellectual breadth and deep grasp of issues that Jen Psaki had during her time as White House spokesman of Joe Biden’s administration, Castro gets a triple “A” for effort and passion. She does not even mind going tit-for-tat in 10 bloody rounds with gutter-level arguments, the usual half-truth, half-lies that come from many in the Duterte camp. The verbal battles with take-no-prisoners type of people who often speak for the Duterte camp seem to energize, not exhaust, Castro. She soldiers on with the fervor of a true Marcos loyalist.

With cowards inhabiting the top layer of Marcos’ official family, ex-lawyer Gadon is the kind of flunky the president needs at the moment. Fiercely loyal, uninhibited, combative and deploying the type of language that is the only effective verbal antidote to the uncivility of many in the Duterte camp. Gadon holds the unofficial title of “viceroy of Duterte-bashing.”

Matibag, Castro, Gadon, and their combatant-comrades in the Marcos official family have crossed their Rubicon. To them, it is Marcos or nothing.