There are plenty of elephants in the room related to a probably Marcos victory at the polls on May 2022. The biggest elephant would be, what would happen to all the pending civil and criminal cases against the Marcos’ and the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) under a Marcos Presidency?
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. would be in a position to influence the decision on these cases indirectly. Imagine being the judge and have to rule on such a case. It wouldn’t cross your mind that you would be going against the most powerful official in the country?
The Executive Order which created the anti-graft and corruption agency stipulates that its primary purpose is to go after the ill-gotten wealth of corrupt government officials but it has only gone after the Marcos’ and their cronies since its inception. It hasn’t been free from corruption at all as it has been involved in scandals since its creation. It was the favorite government agency of the late His Immenseness, Louie Beltran, from the first day it was created. It was the shenanigans at the PCGG which had His Immenseness coining “Kamaganak Inc.” to describe Cory Aquino’s relatives descending on the Marcos’ and cronies assets like vultures.
Given its track record, you have to wonder why post-Marcos Presidents haven’t made any move to abolish the PCGG. All it takes is another Executive Order to write finis to this instrument of political vendetta. Why then does it still exist? Is it co-terminus with the Marcos’? What follows is a summary of the cases filed by the PCGG against the Marcos’ which it either won or lost. It is interesting to note that there are more civil than criminal cases which is indicative of the PCGG’s inability to build solid cases against the Marcos family.
This is due to the complicated structure of the myriad holding companies used to hide the paper trail. The principal partners at ACCRA Law could’ve easily shed light on these, as they were the go-to law firm of that time but Edgardo Angara, Franklin Drilon and Raul Roco were not charged by the government for complicity. There is the buddy-buddy companero code among lawyers which affords them a get-out-of-jail-free card.
What’s the latest on cases vs Imelda Marcos, family?
Why Bongbong Marcos can’t go to the US
Rappler claims that BBM can’t go to the US because of the pending human rights case filed by “victims” of martial law. This is related to the alleged “human rights violations” on the killed and disappeared. What’s ironic is most of these claimants are leftist-militants who were part of the insurgency waged by the CPP/NPA/NDF who are enemies of the state.
This would change if Marcos wins the Presidency because he is the Head of State and is accorded privileges as such. The US would definitely need to rethink its opinion of Marcos since the Philippines plays a strategic role in the pivot to Asia initiative espoused by Obama, set aside by Trump and made a priority again under the Biden administration.
To begin with, the Marcos’ aren’t too keen to be on the side of the Americans given how they were set aside by them in 1986. The withdrawal of US support plus the oft-repeated story that the US played a large role in the return of Ninoy Aquino from exile, which served as the catalyst for Apo Lakay’s ouster, would have the Marcos’ tend to side more with their rival China, which is more friendly, ever since Imelda’s landmark meeting with Mao Ze Dong in 1976.
At worst, it would be uncomfortable for whoever is appointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs, given the vilification of the Marcos name being associated as one of the world’s biggest “thief” and Imeldific’s shoe collection and ostentatious jet set lifestyle during her glory days as First Lady, roving Ambassador and top diplomat.
The inevitable question is, are the Marcos’ guilty or innocent of the charges made against them?
Marcos is the underdog because the opposition cast his family as their bogeyman. All of their failures are blamed on him and whoever is in their sights. Think of how PNoy blamed GMA for overpriced purchases of coffee served at PAGCOR casinos when the truth was his appointed head of PAGCOR was guilty of engaging in the same corrupt practices as his predecessor.
If you look at the PCGG summary, there are asset recoveries in cash which is proof that the monies exist. But what of the “compromise settlements” made by cronies with the PCGG? Weren’t these made under duress considering due process wasn’t follow with respect to the process of sequestration? Under the then Freedom Constitution of Cory Aquino’s Revolutionary Government, a Writ of Sequestration issued by the PCGG, was enough to take control of a company owned by a Marcos crony.
What if BBM issues an Executive Order abolishing the PCGG? What happens to the cases filed by the agency against himself and his family?
This opens up a Pandora’s box of legal issues which the Supreme Court will surely be busy with for an indefinite period given the snail-like pace of our justice system.
It could also be used as grounds for impeachment which would result in political uncertainty adding to whatever disruption the pandemic has caused, which the country has not recovered from yet.
While the sins of the father are not the sins of the son, the fact is the expose’ from the Panama Papers and the more recent Pandora Papers, has detailed how world leaders have been stashing either legitimately or illegitimately obtained wealth in offshore havens around the world. In effect, there are not that many head of state who can claim to be honest in the true sense of the word.
It can’t be said also that those in the opposition are squeaky clean. Robredo herself had been the subject of a detailed expose’ by the group, We Are Collective, who was behind the Naga Leaks and Leni Leak expose’ which were released March 2017, almost a year after Robredo won the Presidency.
It can’t be said that there is no basis for what was claimed in the expose’ as those named as dummies for and in behalf of either Jesse or Leni Robredo, deleted their social media accounts.
It’s the scale of corruption which varies as there is no doubt that it is the norm. It cannot be said that there was more corruption during the Marcos administration as opposed to those which came after. But the ohter issue which affects a probable second Marcos administration is credibility particularly when it comes to foreign borrowings and foreign direct investments.
It doesn’t help that the US worked with the opposition in the Marcos vilification campaign. Imelda Marcos was charged with and tried in New York for alleged violations of the RICO Act. The IMF-WB played a large role in the economic crisis of 1983-1986 made worse by allegations of misreporting at the then Central Bank of the Philippines.
How would the US and other countries espousing liberal ideology which grant official development assistance, react to a Marcos Presidency? The Philippines highest credit rating has been achieved under the Duterte administration largely through the efforts of the Cabinet Cluster on Economic Development led by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez. This has given the country the opportunity to borrow funds at preferential rates which has been used to finance infrastructure development and social amelioration programs.
What would be the stand of multilateral lending institutions, credit rating agencies and the market, in general, to a Marcos Presidency, if BBM wins in May 2022?
Like it or not, voters will have to take this into consideration because it affects the whole country. In fact, the success of the winning candidate’s economic recovery strategy largely depends on the ability to maintain the fiscal prudence which the Duterte administration’s Cabinet Cluster on Economic Development has been able to maintain despite the disruption caused by the pandemic.
Then there are the disqualification petitions filed by several interested parties against Marcos at the Comelec. The first petition was dismissed yesterday but there are several others. The appeals process is a tedious one. It goes to the Comelec en banc first and then the Supreme Court later if the en banc affirms the division ruling.
Should these petitions drag on until May, we have the specter of a President assuming office with the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head creating an atmosphere of political instability.
Finally, there is the opposition itself. Leni Robredo will be out of political office come June 30, 2022 but at this point, it’s safe to say that she will continue on as the titular head of the opposition. Why? There’s no one else who can step into the job because of their very shallow bench.
You can be sure that the opposition will not quiet down even if Marcos wins by a majority. They will continue to make outlandish claims which aren’t based on reality but more of what it is they believe to be true in their closed ecosystem that it is only they who are morally upright and everyone else is not. They will not give the Marcos administration any leeway for nation-building. We have seen how they ignored the appeals of Duterte for national unity for the sake of the country and every Filipino.
This is specially true with leftist-militant groups as Marcos has committed to continue with the NTF-ELCAC which has been the main body tasked with putting an end to the communist insurgency.
A Marcos victory on May 2022 would be a repudiation of the claims made by the then opposition led by Cory Aquino in 1986 against Ferdinand Marcos Sr. The above is an excerpt from an essay of the first NEDA Secretary-General Gerardo P. Sicat entitled The Economic Legacy of Marcos which was published in November 2011 for the UP School of Economics.
Sicat makes an objective assessment of the Marcos administration from the time of his election as President in 1965 up to his ouster in 1986. The last four pages of the essay delineate where the Aquino administration failed in the transition post-Marcos and how this continues to affect the country’s socio-economic environment.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is not Ferdinand Marcos Sr., not by any measure because the latter possessed a brilliant mind. It can be said that Marcos Sr. was both intellectually-gifted and politically street smart as seen in the manner of his ascent from Congressman to President of the Republic.
The operative question is, can Ferdinand Marcos Jr., manage the transition from the vicissitudes of the period from 1986 – 2016 when he is expected to pick-up where his father left off?
Part 2 of this blog post will discuss Sicat’s paper in full.
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