By Adolfo Quizon Paglinawan

 

Part 10: Is it worth saving a weak, incompetent and corrupt president?

At the end of the day, the truth has set us free!

My heart is racing as I was writing this article because a few minutes prior I saw and heard Imee Marcos, the presidential sister, in a speech before the rally of the Iglesia ni Cristo at the Luneta grandstand, confess to the active and ongoing drug addiction of her brother Bongbong Marcos and her wife Liza Araneta.

Senator Marcos revealed that “Even when we were children, the whole family already knew about his problem,” with the caveat that in their early years, their father’s presence prevented her from having to take responsibility for her brother.

“As we grew older, it became more concerning,” she said, as sometimes, “even the Presidential Guard and Metrocom would help clean up after their parties,” she said.

The president’s sister also detailed the siblings’ experiences living apart in different countries. She said she encouraged her brother to marry Liza Araneta, believing it would give him stability and direction.

“It was a huge mistake,” she said because she said it turned out that like him, she was also addicted to drugs.

Prize-winning vlog

Tio Moreno, a known vlogger posted this report over Facebook, and I am quoting it verbatim:

“IMEE MARCOS CHOSE THE COUNTRY OVER BLOOD — AGAIN

“In 2022, when the Marcos administration began its full-blown attacks on VP Sara, I honestly thought Senator Imee R. Marcos would fall in line and defend her brother.

“She’s a Marcos, after all. Blood should’ve been thicker than water.

“But from 2022 to 2025, Imee repeatedly broke ranks. She stood against Martin Romualdez’s People’s Initiative (PI). She blocked the AKAP. She investigated the kidnapping of FPRRD and even filed cases at the Ombudsman against those behind it. Those weren’t small acts; those were political landmines.

“And in 2025, despite the harassment and persecution Inday Sara Duterte endured, she still endorsed Imee Marcos. I was surprised. Wondered why. But I was told that IMEE NEVER STOPPED SUPPORTING THE DUTERTES.

“Her support for Tatay Dugong in 2016 didn’t fade; it continued quietly through the years. That was the assurance she gave VP Sara.

“Still, the doubt lingered. I still doubted her. She is a Marcos, after all.

“But today, November 17, 2025, Imee Marcos erased all doubt. She didn’t face millions of Filipinos to rescue her brother’s crumbling political fortunes. She stood on that stage to tell the country, with no tremor in her voice, that Bongbong Marcos is a DRUG ADDICT and is NO LONGER FIT to lead this nation.

“Imee didn’t mince words. She revealed how BBM and his circle microdose drugs to survive it four times a day. She named names without flinching.

“Among the names mentioned are: Bong Daza, Tonyboy Floirendo, SAP Lagdameo, Maricel Soriano, Liza Marcos, Sandro Marcos and the rest of the kids, and more.

“And here’s what makes it impossible to dismiss:

“Imee Marcos is not just a senator. She is his sister. A Marcos. A family insider. Someone who knows Bongbong far better than any of us and someone who clearly isn’t on drugs herself.

“If a sister is forced to expose her own brother to protect the country, what more do the rest of us need?

“Para sa Diyos, bayan, at bawat pamilyang Pilipino.”

Full speech of Senator Imee Marcos at Luneta

Implications

Here are two options for the peaceful transition of the presidency.

Option 1: The cabinet meets and attests to the incapacity of the sitting president and the duly-elected vice president takes over, in accordance with provisions of the Constitution.

Option 2: The Armed Forces of the Philippines withdraws support from Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, he and his family vacate Malacañang to constitute a constructive resignation, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court administers the oath-taking of the duly-elected vice president.

The other options, including a cocaine overdose to lead to an actual physical vacancy, are unprintable.

The first option notes the Philippine Constitution’s provision for the Cabinet to act due to the President’s incapacity is detailed in Article VII, Section 6. When a majority of the Cabinet members transmit a written declaration of the President’s inability to the Senate President and Speaker of the House, the Vice-President immediately assumes the powers and duties as Acting President.

The second option is for the sitting President to voluntarily resign, at which point the Vice President would take over. While the Constitution does not explicitly detail the process, it is understood to involve a clear public declaration, which is precisely difficult because who in Philippine setting would humble himself and admit incapacity when the presidential powers are so immense so as to be abused to enable one to stay in power as long as he wants.

This is why we are now invoking the concept of constructive resignation in the context of the jurisprudence that was established when the Philippine Supreme Court justified as “constitutional” the succession of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the presidency, ending Joseph Estrada’s term of office.

Estrada did not formally submit an express written resignation. Instead, the Supreme Court, in its landmark ruling Estrada v. Desierto(G.R. No. 146710-15 promulgated March 2, 2001), held that the “totality of prior, contemporaneous and posterior facts and circumstantial evidence” indicated an implied resignation. 

Key events cited as evidence of “constructive resignation” included:

• The mass resignations of his Cabinet members and the withdrawal of support from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police amid massive public protests.
• Negotiations for a “graceful and dignified exit” and “peaceful transfer of power”.
• His final public statement on January 20, 2001, in which he expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve, called for national reconciliation, and stated he was leaving Malacañang Palace for the sake of peace.
• His physical act of leaving the Palace. 

Based on these circumstances, the Court determined that Estrada had effectively relinquished his office, making his inability to exercise presidential powers no longer temporary, thus paving the way for Vice President Arroyo to be sworn in as the new president.

This judicial interpretation legitimized Arroyo’s accession to power and deemed EDSA II an intra-constitutional event, distinct from the revolutionary EDSA I. 

Are there further options? Yes, one of which is impeachment and removal for specific constitutional grounds such as culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, or other high crimes.

But the present political, economic and social condition of the country no longer makes this pertinent. This The political situation is so volatile, street rallies and protests might escalate in to civil disobedience which can send the nation’s economy to a freefall.

There is also the reason of death – but I am not discussing that here, as abetting to suicide is a crime under our laws.

Money addiction

Gone bonkers

            As expected, the presidential apologists rushed to the support of the discredited president.

Catholic priest Ranhilio Callangan Aquino, who unfortunately for us graduates of San Beda, is the present dean of the university’s postgraduate-graduate law studies, released a meme that read:

“When you are willing to throw your brother under the bus, who will trust you with their lives and their future?”

I would, if it were for God and country.

But a vlogger who writes under the pseudonym “Kini Law” would not let this erstwhile man of the cloth get away with his stupid remarks.

He thinks the “Padre Damaso” is creating a deflection.

“The real issue is not about family loyalty or betrayal. The real issue is that a sitting Senator has told the Filipino people that her own brother — the President of the Republic — is drug dependent. That revelation alone should disqualify him from the presidency.

“To twist the narrative into a question of ‘trust’ is a deliberate evasion. It shifts the spotlight away from the substance of the accusation and onto the optics of family conflict. It asks us to debate whether a sister betrayed her brother, instead of confronting the far graver reality: 120 million Filipinos are being led by someone accused of being a drug addict.

“This is not about sibling rivalry. It is about governance, accountability, and the moral fitness of the highest office in the land. To reduce it to a matter of ‘trust’ is to insult the intelligence of the people, to trivialize the gravity of addiction, and to dodge the responsibility of answering the charge head‑on.

“The question is not: Can we trust Imee? The question is: Can we trust a President accused of drug dependence to lead a nation?”

It seems there will no longer be third collections for Padre Damaso moving forward.

Faith not religion

I am so ashamed for the first time that I am a Filipino catholic.

The INC rally stood for transparency, accountability and justice, and the Roman Catholic Church, the country’s largest religion is not supporting these principles?

For the four years, I have been reflecting on why the Philippine has a society that enriches the rich and impoverishes the poor, and everything points to a curse that has befallen the country for more than 500 years since1521, the coming of the “Ferdinand” in our history – “Fernão de Magalhães”.

That curse is religion. A religion that has genuine roots in the teachings of Jesus Christ, but is translated not from its biblical origins into the social life of believers but from the catechesis and bureaucracy of imperial Rome.

I have also reflected on why despite the tears of the martial law years of his father, the people were willing to elect his son to the presidency. Maria Ela Atienza of the University of the Philippines provided an insight.

‘Part of the reason voters have ignored the blemishes on the Marcos’ family reputation is disappointment felt in the years after Marcos Sr was removed from  office. There were high expectations that the economy will develop, the political system will truly be democratic. But since 1986, the road to democratization has been difficult. While the economy has improved, the benefits have not trickled down to poor Filipinos.”

Sara Duterte is sometimes blamed for staging the return of the Marcoses to power.

She has to atone for this mistake for the remainder of what Bongbong will leave out of his six-year term, with good governance and rapid results. The door to that atonement has already been opened by the person who influenced her to support her brother in the runoff to the 2022 presidential elections – Imee Marcos.

There is nothing coincidental about this. I will repeat that it may sound outlandish for Duterte Diehard Supporters but Digong’s unjust detention at the International Criminal Court at The Hague looks like what the gods have exacted as equivalent propitiatory sacrifice for the liberation of the Filipino people.

Digong’s “unfinished revolution” against corruption and real change, and Bongbong’s un-initiated presidency, should now restart with the assumption of the duly-elected vice president to the highest office of the land.

Every Filipino must support this moral and Constitutional road to a prosperity we can bequeath to the incoming generations.

So help us God!

To be continued.

Middle-income trap

   

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