‘Underdog’ image plus ‘controlled media’ boost Marcos appeal – ally, analysts
Leni Robredo is running for President with one goal in mind – stop Bongbong Marcos from winning the Presidency. Among the presidential hopefuls, it is only Robredo who made this categorical statement. It’s the same narrative from her 2016 campaign when she went up against Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and “won.”
The only problem is, Bongbong has been topping survey after survey since Sara Duterte withdrew from the presidential contention. Marcos got a huge bump to 47% voter preference after Daughterte’s announcement. After she decided to run as his Vice-President, voter preference for Marcos is now up to 57%. This early, they have a clear majority among voters.
What makes Marcos popular given his family’s ignominious ouster in 1986?
Manong Chavit, the old school politician attributes it to his non-confrontational style. BBM has never publicly attacked a rival. He doesn’t use harsh words to confront those who do the same when leveling an accusation. In the 2016 Vice-Preisdential debates, he kept his cool despite being ganged up on by Robredo, Cayetano and Trillanes.
Ash Presto claims that Marcos’ media access is controlled which is why he’s not asked the hard questions. What sense would it make if the hard questions have all been asked before? Bongbong was a guest on a television show of Kris Aquino on Channel 9 where she asked him all sorts of questions. With some media outlets biased against him, why would Marcos subject himself to the indignity?
Manong Chavit describes him as an underdog. How did this come to be? Bongbong, the only son of the dictator an underdog with his billions of pesos? He and his family’s ostentatious lifestyle exposed for all the world to see after their fall from power? Publicly labeled as thieves, with an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records to boot, an underdog?
Leave it to the stupid opposition to accomplish this for Apo Lakay Jr. The Marcos’ have been convenient as bogeymen for the opposition, which doesn’t take responsibility for their failures. With nothing much to show from their time in power from 1986 to 2016, the opposition narrative is still the same – MARCOS MAGNANAKAW!!!
To which the public replies, sino ba sa pamahalaan ang hindi magnanakaw?
Most of the reforms promised by Cory after she took over the Presidency weren’t fulfilled. What’s worse is there was no palpable change. The restoration of “freedom and democracy” meant it was open season for anyone and everyone in government to steal. There was no order or structure anymore. The barbarians took over.
F. Sionil Jose writes in his eulogy for his friend, Onofre D. Corpuz, who was one of Apo Lakay’s bright, young Ilokanos, “I was not wrong about my estimate of Marcos. On that Sunday that EDSA I was blooming, another compadre, Serafin Quiason who was then director of the National Library, joined OD who had already quit government and I for lunch at a restaurant in Angono. There, we post mortemed the Marcos regime, what the Philippines would be like without him. The anarchy and chaos that may come. And worse — the moral decay.”
The anarchy and chaos has been evident in Philippine society. One only needs to look at the mess that the National Capital Region is after the Metro Manila Development Plan was junked by Cory’s minions. The legacy of Imelda’s edifice complex is how without the structures at the CCP Complex and the hospitals she built, we wouldn’t have anything to fall back on when we needed to host APEC and the ASEAN Summit and respond to the exigencies wrought by the pandemic.
The people have realized that if corruption and cronyism are still present, then they would rather have a Marcos in charge than the opposition who doesn’t give them any benefits at all but steals public funds all the same. It is just a choice of the lesser of two evils based on their experience in the past thirty years.
But even with this lead, it won’t be a walk in the park for BBM. He still faces six disqualification petitions at the Comelec. All of these have been filed by personalities and organizations identified with the opposition. So much for the defenders of freedom and democracy. If they actually walked their talk, then they would simply let the people decided at the polls if Marcos is fit or not, to become President.
Being the hypocrites that they are, they deem themselves as knowing what is in the Filipino’s best interest and that is, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., shouldn’t become President.
Then there’s the President himself. Duterte has come out implying that BBM is a cocaine-user and a weak leader. Marcos has chosen to ignore these tirades by stating he doesn’t feel alluded to. Is it really best for him not to answer the challenge posed by the President or should he take a stronger position, specially on the leadership issue? It’s not easy being caught in the middle of a family feud between a strong father and an equally headstrong daughter.
Duterte has gone quiet since the deadline for substitution. He hasn’t indicated if he will make good on his Senatorial run. Sen. Bong Go has “publicly” withdrawn from the Presidential race again but not “formally” at the Comelec. He’s still in the race for all intents and purposes.
Manong Chavit believes BBM will do well in the debates. He needs to. Not only him but Daughterte as well. The challenge will come from the Lacson-Sotto tandem which has the experience and the track record in governance and legislation. The people usually make their voting decisions during the course of the debate series. While they may be the favorites now, the tide could change at this point.
Rodrigo Duterte ran on simple platform in 2016. His pamphlet was only two pages long. He confessed to not having any knowledge about the economy which he said he would put someone “bright” in charge of. This is not the case in this election cycle. The pandemic has brought about a host of issues that the public needs answers to which is why voter registration hit a record high.
Marcos hasn’t made public his governance platform. This should be easy for him because not only does he have the benefit of the first NEDA Secretary-General by his side, there is also GMA who has come out strong for their tandem. In fact, she made it possible as Daughterte is now Lakas-CMD Chair. It was GMA who spent what little political capital she had to pass the much-needed economic reform measures which set the country on a viable growth path during her administration which was the longest post-Marcos at nine years.
There are signs of weakness in terms of policy in the Marcos campaign. The press release about the possible suspension of the Rice Tarrification Law didn’t sit well with the public. Marcos wants the NFA to revert back to its function during his father’s administration. The problem there is it was relevant at that time when the country was under martial law and Marcos had Jess Tanchanco at the helm of the NFA. Between then Secretary of Agriculture Bong Tanco, Ding Panganiban and Jess Tanchanco, the country had food security. But the environment is very different now and Marcos should take this into account before making any policy statement.
Bongbong Marcos favors suspending rice tariffication law if elected president
The truth is there has never been overwhelming support for the opposition even after Marcos’ ouster. This was proven in the 1992 election where Danding Cojuangco would’ve won if only Imelda didn’t split the vote. It was repeated again in 1998 when Erap won overwhelmingly but was ousted shortly because it was the intention that no Marcos restoration should ever happen.
If Bongbong Marcos is able to overcome all these challenges before him then it would be certain that he will have achieved what no one has ever done before. Make a political comeback in the grandest fashion possible because he overcame insurmountable odds against him.
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