In less than a month’s time, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is set to become the 17th President of the Republic of the Philippines. There has never been an instance when the leader of a sovereign nation who has been ousted by the US or a member of his family, has been able to make a political comeback. Some have tried but everyone has failed. Marcos would be the first to succeed if all goes well.
Those who are virulently anti-Marcos are in denial over his looming victory. They did not see this coming seeing as how they have controlled the narrative for the past thirty-six years since the Marcos’ were forced to leave the country by virute of Cory Aquino’s fear that they posed a clear and present danger to her administration. Their US exile was short-lived because Imelda won an acquittal in her New York trial even if it was by a jury of Americans who did not think that the former First Lady, who thought of New York as a second home, was guilty of the charges against her.
The opposition in the Philippines has been washing their collective hands of guilt in the Marcos’ grand comeback which was supposed to be impossible. What made the Filipinos change their minds? Why are the Marcos’ on the offensive instead of the defensive and what is behind his leading voter preference surveys from start to finish in the 2022 election cycle?
First off the unfulfilled promise of reforms by Cory Aquino. Marcos transitioned the country from a republican bicameral political structure to a parliamentary structure patterned after the French model through the 1971 Constitutional Convention. Marcos’ administration was paralyzed by the Liberal majority in Congress. He could not get their cooperation because the opposition under Ninoy Aquino was bent on making him an unpopular President. Marcos won a second term but this only strengthened the resolve of the opposition against Marcos. They believed that Imelda would be his chosen successor in 1973.
Cory declared a revolutionary government and junked the 1973 Constitution. This led Doy Laurel to withdraw support from her because this was not part of the deal they agreed upon. It was undersood that Laurel would be Vice-President and Prime Minister but both posts were abolished by the Freedom Constitution and while he remained Vice-President under the 1987 Constitution, he was marginalized by Cory. Thus began the pattern of political vendetta which was to continue for the duration of the Yellow administrations, one after the other.
The pattern of political vendetta resulted in the Yellows making unnecessary political enemies. Joseph Estrada’s voter base did not look favorably on his ouster. The same with how GMA won over FPJ in 2004. The ABC demographic held for Noynoy in 2010 but not without the cloud of doubt that he was the direct beneficiary of the first automated election under Smartmatic and Cory’s old political mentor, Mark Malloch Brown.
The biggest political blunders were committed under the Noynoy Aquino administration. PNoy went after GMA, Renato Corona, Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla. This, despite the political opposition cooperating with him. The Senate delivered the conviction of Renato Corona. There was no destablization plots during his term. This, despite the allegations of electoral fraud in the 2013 midterm election where the 70:30 pattern between administration and opposition candidates was exposed.
Towards the end of his term, Filipinos had had enough of Aquino and his student council government, which was how Joker Arroyo, a staunch Cory supporter, described PNoy’s administration. Arroyo went to the extent of voting for Corona’s acquittal, which went against Noynoy’s wishes. Only Bongbong Marcos and Miriam Defensor Santiago would vote with Joker. But this was enough to taint the credibility of Corona’s “conviction.”
Then there is the lack of development in all aspects. Imelda was accused of having an “edifice complex;” a penchant for building. But these projects have paid off handsomely for the public. The venues at the CCP Complex are useful whenever the country is the host of an international event such as the ASEAN and APEC Summits. The tertiary hospitals in the National Capital Region served their purpose at the height of the pandemic. They continue to provide healthcare to the masses and serve as the training ground for new medical professionals.
The PNoy administration exposed the apathy of the Yellows to the max. Look at what happened to the MRT-3 after the DOTC dropped Sumitomo as the maintenance service provider. The DOTC did not have an adequate radar system for air traffic control. Airports and seaports were not being maintained. The DPWH focused on flood control instead of building and maintaining roads and bridges. There was “tanim-bala” at the international airport. Government was a big joke duringg the time of PNoy.
The National Capital Region or Metro Manila is in the top five of the world’s most congested metropolitan areas. The 1976 Metro Manila Development Plan was junked by the Cory administration which is why we have chaos in the NCR.
As early as 1978, the technocrats put in place a development plan to augment the NCR’s water supply with the construction of the Kaliwa Dam. The dam remains unbuilt up to today and NCR’s easter side is beset with water service interruption.
We do not have food or energy security. The BNPP was not commissioned and our power rates are the second highest in the region despite deregulation. The deregulated environment only led to the formation of cartels. Agricultural smuggling is rampant to the determiment of our farmers. We have not adhered to the development track of growing our agricultural base to the point of exporting surplus production and manufacturing value-added products as Thailand and Vietnam have both done. As a result, we are uncompetitive in terms of labor cost since we have higher food cost. Put it simply, we cannot even produce enough rice to feed ourselves and have to import from the two largest producers which are also Thailand and Vietnam.
The Yellows like to make much of the Marcos disinformation machinery which they blame for Filipinos being “misled” about the truth. What is exactly the truth? That the Marcos’ are thieves and murderers? That Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was corrupt? That Imelda Marcos treated the national treasury as her own? There is a plethora of information to be found on the internet. It is at the tip of the fingers of those who have a basic smartphone and connectivity. But what the Yellows do not acknowledge is the skeletons in their own closet.
Corruption did not stop the minute they took power in 1986. It actually got worse. Louie Beltran could not stop writing about it. He was able to make an entirely new parody of life in the Republic of Banana, complete with funny but accurate labels for the factions in the administration. The corruption revolved around the Marcos family and the crony’s who were the targets of the PCGG. It was political vendetta and greed for both money and power combined. It defined what the future was moving forward and set the tone for the tumult Cory experienced which her media allies painted was the product of the desire to oust her but completely ignored the fact that it was her inability to wield power correctly which caused it.
It was all about perpetuating the myth that the Philippines was better off under anybody but Marcos or another Marcos. The ends always justified the means which was by the rule of law was conveniently substituted by mob rule whenever convenient. We went from the sick man of Asia to the laughingstock of Asia during this period.
The consequences of this political and personal vendetta has been perpetuated by the PCGG which never investigated any other individuals other than Marcos and his cronies. It was never about “good government” despite the number of scandals which surfaced during the first two years of the Cory administration nor was it in the case in subsequent administrations. The PCGG was created with the specific task of hounding the Marcos’.
Eventually the wool was pulled out of the eyes of the Filipinos in the person of Duterte. He who was also a product of the vindictiveness of the victors who replaced duly-elected officials in the drive to remove any semblance of Marcos in the bureaucracy and the Filipino psyche. For their every failure, Marcos or their other political enemies served as convenient bogeymen as they continued to perpetuate themselves in power through Edsa 2 and the various destablization plots against GMA and the threat of impeachment, a weapon which they used effectively against Estrada.
This is why they now find themselves up against all the political enemies they made; Marcos, Arroyo, Duterte and Estrada/Ejercito. It has become one grand alliance with the singular goal of ridding the country of all the hate and the venom that the Yellows have been gaslighting the Filipino people with for the past thirty-six years.
This is not to say that those who are against the Yellows represent the good but what and who we are today as a nation is the product of our history. We have never been free of quislings in the elite who have sold us out for their own gain. It is for this reason that we find ourselves behind our more progressive regional neighbors. It cannot be said that any country is corruption-free but it can be said that we have been bereft of a national identity which is why we do not have a strong patriotic streak.
This continues up to today where we have media organizations which are openly biased against Marcos and his family. They do not have the objectivity to present to the public both sides of the story. This is a far cry from the bad old Marcos days. Anti-Marcos journalists at that time never violated their journalistic tenets. Public affairs programs which had guests from both sides were civil and the host did not show any bias for either side. They called it as they saw it.
Hopefully, the past thirty-six years will serve as an eye-opener for our countrymen to change their mindsets and come to the realization that we deserve better leaders who have vision and foresight. There is still much work to be done. The world order is experiencing an upheaval in the midst of a pandemic. There are serious challenges which can only be overcome by leaders who are willing to make the hard decisions for the country to emerge better and stronger.
All of these is only possible if we can come together as one nation and one spirit – ISANG BANSA, ISANG DIWA NG NAGKAKAISANG SAMBAYANANG PILIPINO and empower ourselves by consciously holding our leaders accountable for the consequences of their actions. We should take it upon ourselves to uplift the plight of the less fortunate of our countrymen and educate them about what needs to be done for every Filipino to have a brighter and progressive future.
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