The unwanted Marcoses

It is gratifying to know that Gen X, the demographic cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the Millenials, have been able to sustain the momentum of communicating, explaining and educating the younger generation about the brutality of the Marcos regime.

Although it has been 47 years ago that President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law over the entirety of the Philippines, the agonizing consequence of it continues to be felt by many, especially the most aggrieved families.

When I remember my mother aborting, what to us, college students then, was even a short visit, and hurriedly and fearfully packing her belongings early that afternoon to be loaded on a ‘tartanilla’ (horse drawn carriage) so she could be on the vessel leaving that night for Baybay, Leyte, and be with my father the following day, I could not help but question the inhumanity of it all.

Forty seven years of conjugal dictatorship is not really that long for the Marcos matriarch, Imelda, and children, Bongbong, Imee and Irene, who are now back in their glory years, thanks but no thanks to Filipino sycophants, to just say we have got to move on.

One could not just say either that the children shall not suffer the iniquity of their parents because the fact is that they were not toddlers anymore when martial law happened. Imee was already a political youth leader being the chairperson of the Kabataang Barangay and Bongbong was in his teens already and fully aware of what was happening by the way he donned fatigue uniform of the military in one of the photo ops of the former dictator addressing the crowd of supporters from the balcony in Malacañang. In between her siblings stood Irene who was already as tall as Imee and fully aware of what was going on.

With this as a backdrop, it is heartening and reassuring to know that the students of the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) condemned the attendance of Irene at the opening of the Ateneo Areté’s Amphitheater on Thursday, April 4, saying, among other things that “ …her presence is a grave insult and vehement mockery to Martial Law survivors and martyrs.”

A separate petition signed by various students of the university also demanded the university to issue a formal apology for the incident. The petition read, “Are we not aware by now how the Marcoses systematically use art as a tool to blind the people from their violence and corruption?”

Thus, the May 2019 elections should be used as a tool to repudiate another Marcos, Imee, a senatorial candidate, who has the propensity of lying about her educational records and for saying and making people believe that martial law is a conflict between the Marcoses and the Aquinos.

Imee’s presumptuousness is so overwhelming that one can’t help wondering how it would be if she becomes a senator. Let us not dignify her being a Marcos for the truth is that martial law is and will always be a conflict between the reprobate Marcoses and the Filipino people he was sworn to serve in the first place.

Enough of them already.

Mandaue politics

 

Rep. Jonas Cortes and Mayor Luigi Quisumbing

A political drama unfolding in Mandaue City is so intriguing that Mandauehanons are compelled, with bated breath, to watch how it would end.

Political allies to start with, now 6^th district Rep. Jonas Cortes and Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing are throwing at each other practically everthing but the kitchen sink, after the former has accused the latter for defaulting on their agreement to switch places in the May 2019 elections.  It must be noted that both traded places in 2016 elections, while Cortes was then the mayor and Quisumbing, a congressman, for political expediency.

Whether or not both are perceived to have been ineffective in their present capacity as government officials, it glaringly appears that of the two elective positions the mayorship seems perhaps more covetous and fulfilling – personally and politically,

Thus, it is no wonder that Quisumbing is not giving up the position, while Cortes is hell bent on being elected mayor – yet again.

But what really makes the Mandaue politics all the more fascinating is the palpability that some Quisumbings are favoring the candidacy of Cortes.

Take for example the appearance of one Cortes supporter, presumably a Quisumbing, where during a most recent political rally he was openly seen wearing a T-shirt that said, “I am a Quisumbing but I am for Jonas Cortes”.

Mayor Quisumbing himself admitted, in an interview with Leo Lastimosa on dyAB radio, that his relations with his grandfather, businessman Norberto Quisumbing Jr. (NQ), have been estranged.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how else is one to interpret a photo published not too long ago in a local daily of the highly respected NQ turning over a number of motorcycles and other materials for Jonas’s campaign use?  Certainly this speaks volume of who his grandson is or how Mandaue City government is managed and Cortes is circulating this publicity to his great advantage.

In Mandaue City mayoralty contest, therefore, the single most important factor that will determine the winner is not about having an outsider like  Sara Duterte endorse and raise ones hand, but rather having an insider and a respected member of the community in the person of NQ who has the business, social and political sense to inculcate in the minds of the Madauehanons what is best for them.

 

Master campaigner

 

President Duterte and daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.

Actively and intensely criss-crossing the country and enthusiastically raising the hands of senatorial hopefuls from President Duterte’s PDP-Laban and her own pro-administration coalition of Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), I could only describe presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio as a master campaigner leading to the May 2019 elections.

During her campaign caravan sorties she has also been lifting the hands of local candidates whom she sees being allies of the president, but whose explicit message she wants understood is that they should also campaign for and endorse her senatorial bets in a quid pro quo manner of speaking.

Sara’s ubiquitous presence in rallies leading to the May elections only shows the overwhelming trust and confidence the president has on his daughter’s ability in being able to convey to the public the importance of winning the election for her father who has still three remaining years in his presidency.

True enough, the fanatical crowd that Sara is able to gather in front of the stage that she and her favored candidates are standing on can be compared to the same number had it been the president himself campaigning.

This could only mean, therefore, that whatever vast support and/or adulation President Duterte has been getting from the people that ultimately catapulted him to the presidency, presidential daughter Sara is now enjoying it.

What is intriguing here is that the president has been announcing already to all and sundry that Sara is now calling the shots on the political decisions of the first family. So what does this mean?

It could only be surmised now, without any doubt, that the president is anointing Sara, and nobody else, to succeed him as president when his term of office expires. Not only will he be free of lawsuits then, but he can rest assured that Sara will pursue and accomplish whatever programs and plans he has started for the country. This is what matters most to him.

In effect what this means to Sara as a master campaigner of the PDP-Laban, HNP and other pro-administration coalition party candidates for national and local positions all over the country is that each rally is also an opportune time for her to introduce herself as a presidential candidate in 2022.

Surely, there is nothing wrong with that, but like many Filipinos who have supported President Duterte, I just hope that Sara will exercise better prudence in understanding what Filipinos truly wants as public servants.

The way people have considered the unconventional Dutertes as model for change in the country’s long traditional manner of governance, Sara should also make sure that the candidates she is supporting has the political will, intelligence, toughness, scrupulousness, and, most of all,   the integrity of a name to uphold.

 

Voting wisely

How I wish the preponderance of millennials voting on May 2019 senatorial election will gather their acts together this early and try to find time in knowing who were elected senators in the past by the Filipino people.  

Perhaps they can go as far back as the Fifth Congress when then Senator Ferdinand Marcos was the Senate President.

The reason why I am suggesting this idea to the millennial generation is so they could make early assessment on who were the candidates preferred by most Filipinos in the past to study and enact laws in the Senate.

Most of all my intention is for the millenials to compare who the past senators were as individuals against those presently serving in the Senate, those who are seeking re-election and the numerous new faces that are running for senator in the coming May elections. I am particularly referring to our current crop of politicians who uses their popularity and/or notoriety to further their own political and personal interests rather than those of the country and its people.

This comparison is the only way that the voters, collectively, will be able to determine if, indeed, the current senators running for re-election, the ex-senators who want re-elected and the new candidates all possess the character deserving of our trust.

What I am trying to say and emphasize here is that there has never been a time such as today, and in this generation, the urgency to admit and accept the importance of voting wisely for the good of the country and the Filipino people.

By voting wisely, and I mean voting intelligently, one finds satisfaction that, after deep and careful consideration,  the choices for senatorial bets are deemed to be adequately qualified and competent to legislate the laws of the land based on their educational background and relative experiences.

That he or she must also be articulate, reputable, responsible, and conscientious, to mention a few excellent qualities of a high-ranking public servant.

Sadly, the same cannot be said of some of our present senators and more so of many of those running for the elective office.

It does not mean to say also that just because they are the favored candidates of President Duterte and her daughter, Sara, that they have to be voted on for the reason that we are strong supporter of the Dutertes. Following our leaders blindly will only make us complicit.

This is where prudence and utmost caution is necessary among the voters because while we are aware who the undesirable and rouge politicians are, we do not have control over those trying to play political patronage and political gamesmanship.

Simply said, it is incumbent upon us the voters, that includes now more of the millennials, to carefully and earnestly separate the chaff from the grain in every election time for it is the only way that we can be sure that our future and the future of those that will follow us shall always be in good and reliable hands.