By Adolfo Paglinawan

Part 11: Is it worth saving a weak, incompetent and ultimately corrupt president?

            Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is not stepping down, Malacañang said in spite of growing protests and demands for his resignation, including allegations of historical and ongoing drug abuse hurled against him and his wife by his sister Imee.

            This is anticipated. But for him to stonewall amid glaring evidence means he will take the country down with him.

The past three years have shown that his conscience, and that of his cousin Martin Romualdez, have been seared (1 Timothy 4, 1-2). It is not for the people to suffer carrying that conscience. If he is cocksure he is still qualified to run the country, then he should heed his sister’s suggestion to undergo a hair follicle test to determine any or possible long-term illegal drug use.

In civilized countries, a mere vote of no-confidence by the Parliament, already leads to a vacancy. But in the Philippines, where arrogance of power has become the new normal, Marcos seems to want to be carried out of Malacanang horizontally, or dragged out screaming and kicking.

This is shameless. At least his father Ferdinand Sr. (1986), and later Joseph Estrada (2001) bowed out and vacated, but gracefully.

I get goose pimples when I am reminded that no less than former President Rodrigo Duterte, on January 28, 2024 at the first Hakbang ng Maisug rally in Davao, gave him a fatherly advice to reform otherwise he might end up facing the same fate as his father.

Isn’t Digong’s prophecy is coming to fulfillment?

Indeed, what is appearing now is a House of Cards crumbling down, a scenario reminiscent of history repeating a once hopelessly beleaguered president – his father, Ferdinand Sr., spend his remaining chaotic moments in power.

Apo Ferdie’s picture making his last speech at the balcony, rings in my mind. Imelda was near tears in panic, as Col. Arturo Aruiza, chief of the presidential security, was answering a question from her. Irene, Bongbong garbed in what looks like an Army uniform and his daughter Aimee below them hidden behind the grills, appeared clueless in a state of flux. It was only Imee, slightly behind Irene, who looked composed and alert as she stares at the distant camera.

A classic by Hillary Clinton jumps out – “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

So, do Marcos Jr., and for that matter his lying canary Press Office Claire Castro, think our professional Armed Forces of the Philippines, with all the billions in their intelligence funds, are not intelligent to know the facts and unable to make the right discernment and appropriate action on how to protect the people and the State?

That unique role was precisely inserted there by the framers of the 1987 Constitution, to enshrine the “Spirit of Edsa” when the people themselves reclaimed their rightful place as absolute sovereigns over the nation, in the process expelling a president.

First, has Castro forgotten that it was Marcos himself who asked the AFP to inspect and validate around 16,000 flood control projects nationwide? It was Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner Jr. who announced that Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) chief Vince Dizon asked for their assistance to inspect those structures.

This means that before anybody could verify the authenticity of the consequence of President Marcos Jr.’s signing the 2003, 2004 and 2005 General Appropriations Act, our soldiers themselves have already confirmed the existence of those ghost and substandard flood control projects, hence the utter incompetence of this regime.

Second, if there is anybody who is around the president 24/7, and who knows what is happening 360 degrees around him, it is the AFP Presidential Security Group. I know that on their building, there is a sign that says “protecting the president at all costs” but I doubt if they will obey what former President Fidel Ramos called “illegal orders”.

That sign disappears when their duty to protect the people and the State becomes the superseding command because the presidency is not over and above the Constitution.

Besides, if the PSG does not know if the president is taking or not taking prohibited drugs, it should be abolished. Part of protecting the president’s life and safety is precisely to make him readily available to run the government. Once a president is sworn to office, he is no longer a private person, he belongs to the State.

Drug addiction makes a president incapable of performing his duties, functions and responsibilities for which he was elected. Before he assumes office, he must make a solemn oath: “I do solemnly swear, that I will faithfully and conscientiously fulfill my duties as President of the Philippines. Preserve and defend its Constitution, execute its laws, do justice to every man, and consecrate myself to the service of the Nation.”

Dr. Melissa Loja, a Filipina postdoctoral fellow at the University of Copenhagen’s Center for European, Comparative, and Constitutional Legal Studies, and an international law expert, said the gravity of the allegation went beyond a family dispute and raised serious national security and governance concerns: “Every president is subject to the highest standards of probity and integrity because he holds power by his lonesome and in person, including sole command of the armed forces”.

She explained that unlike senators, congressmen, or justices who exercise authority collectively and are constrained by institutional checks, the president wields power singularly — making credibility and fitness for office paramount.

Loja affirmed Senator Imee Marcos’ remarks carry “the highest probative value,” noting that the senator made the statement publicly, outside the protection of legislative immunity, and even offered to resign alongside the President.

“A statement coming from a member of his immediate family and the Senate… requires immediate, thorough and transparent investigation,” she said, “especially as Imee alleges Marcos’ diminished resistance to corrupt influence”.

“A follicle test rather than a flippant denial is imperative,” she added, warning that the matter is being watched closely by foreign investors and creditors, who were likely to scrutinize the allegations far more seriously than local audiences, noting that credibility issues at the highest levels of government could carry significant economic consequences. “The international audience of foreign news outlets like this will not be as easily duped as our local journalists and readers.”

So when Castro claims, “The president will bravely face whatever the country’s problems and those who are making noise, they are just making noise,” she is speaking like a robot engaged in damage-control propaganda.

It is not noise when the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas shows foreign direct investments FDI inflows had beaten outflows by $494 million—down 40.5 percent from a year earlier. It was the sharpest drop in six months, following a 56.2 percent year-on-year contraction in February.

It is not noise when our exchange rate breaches the P59 to the US dollar, because this jacks up the prices of imported fuel that will toll on electricity costs at home and pump rates on the streets.

It is not noise that our trade deficit is ₱254.37 trillion, will further increase with the 19% tariff imposed on the Philippines by the United States. Our exports are mostly electronic products mostly assembled from imported components that we do not manufacture.

Yes, assembly plants, because we have no real factories. Note that if this deficit is not partially offset by strong inflows from remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFW) and services (like BPO or business process outsourcing and tourism), this figure would even be more dismal.

It is also not noise that Philippine tourism failed to make its 2004 targets last year as much as 24% equivalent to shortage of  almost two million arrivals.

The loudest bang is also not noise, as Senator Rodante Marcoleta, speaking before the Iglesia ni Cristo rally, revealed that DBM, is proposing a 2026 national expenditure program of P6.79 trillion. The finance department says t is only expecting as much as P5 trillion, leaving a deficit of about P1.8 trillion.

Marcoleta dramatized this as being equivalent to P142 billion every month, P4.7 billion every day and P197 million every hour. This is why the National Treasury has estimated that the national government’s outstanding debt is expected to breach P19 trillion next year, based on the Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing for fiscal year 2026.

The September Pulse Asia Survey confirmed that the first and second most urgent concerns of the people today, are the 56% economy and 51% corruption.

What more destabilization can befall the Marcos administration outside of what it has already dug for itself? This is a cellar nobody can anymore scrub. Thus, Castro’s claim that “the president is clean” leaves no space to the imagination that she is totally insane and engaging in dirty tricks defending an already lost ground.

When 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos, rebuffed accusations that his parents and even their children including him, have become illegal drug users as she tagged her aunt of being uncharacteristic of a “true sibling”. Senator Imee Marcos retort was quick and to the point: “Sandro wants to make rumors of me not being a true Marcos. There is only one solution: I will take a DNA test and they (Bongbongbong, Liza and Sandro) will take a hair follicle test.”

Hair follicle testing, considered more comprehensive than standard urine tests, can detect drug use over a longer period

Bersamin, Pangandaman and Olaivar

In an impromptu press briefing, Claire Castro also said Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman voluntarily filed their resignations, and the President accepted them.

The presidential robot asserted, “This is ‘out of delicadeza’ after their respective offices were mentioned in allegations related to the flood control anomaly” earlier by embattled former lawmaker Ako Bicol Party-list representative Zaldy Co.

Bersamin, however,  denied that he resigned.

Co likewise tagged Presidential Legislative Liaison Office chief Adrian Bersamin, a nephew of the just-resigned Palace executive, as the one who supposedly confirmed Marcos’ budget insertion orders. But there is yet no update about any moves by the the PLLO chief.

Bersamin and Pangandaman chose to step down “in recognition of the responsibility to allow the administration to address the matter appropriately,” she said.

A day after they resigned, the Department of Education (DepEd) confirmed the resignation of Undersecretary Trygve Olaivar who was tagged by former Public Works undersecretary Roberto Bernardo as among those who received kickbacks in the flood control scandal. Before DepEd undersecretary, he  worked under former senator and now Education Secretary Sonny Angara as director for political and constituency affairs, and for Angara’s father, former senator Edgardo Angara, as well as for former senator Bong Revilla.

Musical chairs

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto will occupy the post left by Bersamin, while Budget Undersecretary Rolando Toledo was designated as DBM’s officer-in-charge.

Recto is the third person to occupy the position. Bersamin was appointed to the post in September 2022, replacing lawyer Vic Rodriguez, who served for only two and a half months.

Meanwhile, taking over from Recto is Special Assistant to the President on Economic Affairs Secretary Frederick Go.

These appears to be desperate moves on the part of Malacanang. It also exposes a shallow Marcos’ leadership bench. Recto is a very unpopular figure. Known as the “Vatman”, many have blamed the former senator for authoring the 12% value-added tax that is directly collected from all commercial purchases and transactions. Only senior citizens escape this automatic axe on their prescription medicines.

Castro praised Go to high heavens “for having played a central role in advancing investments, strengthening investor confidence” which is pathetic because foreign direct investments have sunk by 40.5% recently from already historic low averages. Earlier, South Korea cancelled a $500 million loan for fear of a possible default.

This is not a shake-up, members of the official family leaving, whether shaken up or resigned, is withdrawal of support. There at least four Secretaries who are also poised to give up their posts, lending credence to the Turkish proverb.

“When the clown moves into the palace, he does not become king. (Malacanang) becomes a circus.”

According to military insiders, the numbers were already much against the president when the Association of Generals and Flag Officers last took a straw vote: 25% favors stonewalling by Marcos, 42% agrees to a Sara Duterte Constitutional succession, while 33% is undecided. There are yet no indication how much of that 33% remained “undecided” or melted after Imee Marcos’ disclosure of the pervading drug addiction of his brother

I am anticipating more key government officials, even from the foreign service corps, will finally leave the beleaguered president. Let’s not mince words – Drug addiction, to cocaine at that, spells incapacity to rule. It is definitely a valid health impediment.

If the recent reported survey taken from the Association of Generals and Flag Officers is to be believed, then the wait is for the withdrawal of support which has started to snowball and mature into a constructive resignation on the part of the president, has already paved the way for the Constitutional and peaceful succession by the duly-elected vice president.

What an delightful way to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the “EDSA” People Power Revolution come February 2026.

Ishallah!

To be continued

   

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