Second of a series

LAST week's column ended with first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos stepping into controversy. She didn't burst into the scene, but it was a seemingly nonchalant depiction of a video clip at the airport departure ceremonies for the first couple leaving for a state visit to Vietnam. As is traditional for the president leaving the country, government VIPs send the first couple off. During such occasions, the president, by protocol, troops the line of VIPs bidding them a safe journey before he goes up the plane.

The first lady, who was not required to troop the line, arrested her climb to the plane and side-stepped to warmly greet with a "beso-beso" Executive Secretary Bersamin, the third highest-ranking government official standing beside Vice President Sara Duterte — by etiquette, the last VIP the President talks to bidding the president bon voyage. Liza shattered decorum and, in a simple gesture of indelicacy — never even gave VP Sara a nod. It was a monumental snob! And in bad taste!

Sara's fiercely loyal fan base, her Davao constituents, where she was mayor for three consecutive terms, was aghast. The Diehard Duterte Supporters (DDS), the Deegong's group that propelled him to the presidency in 2016 and now championing the daughter, are now targeting their guns at Malacañang, where a weak president with a strong and imperious consort resides. VP Sara supporters, the new DDS, have now selected another woman as their bete noire.

The rift

It all started with "Bangag'! ("Filipino women in high-stakes politics" and "Clash of dynasties," The Manila Times, Sept. 25, 2024 and March 6, 2024, respectively). In an interview with Liza (published by GMA Integrated News, April 19, 2024), "First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos said she had been avoiding Vice President Sara Duterte to show her resentment after the latter's father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, called President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. 'bangag,' or high on drugs. According to Ivan Mayrina's report on '24 Oras,' the first lady said she took offense when she saw the vice president laughing over the former president's remark at a rally in Davao City in late January. The first lady said the vice president was a 'bad shot' for her unless she said sorry or whatever. 'I'm many things, but I am not a hypocrite,' the first lady said in an interview on the 'Tune in kay Tunying.'"

This was not a preview to a catfight between strong-willed women. Behind this is the deeper rivalry between the Marcos and Duterte political dynasties. Sara, who gave way to BBM for the presidency, naively lent the Duterte family's popularity, particularly in Mindanao, to propel BBM to the presidency. Marcos owes Sara and the Dutertes for his triumph. With this, Sara rightfully was entitled to the position of the "heiress-in-waiting." BBM's children in elective positions are deemed yet unripe for the presidency. Rep. Sandro Marcos, BBM's oldest, at 33 years, needs maturation. Sen. Imee's third son, Gov. MJ of Ilocos Norte, is not in the line of succession, and his two older brothers are not into politics.

This coming 2025 midterm elections will lay the groundwork for the perpetuation of either of these dynasties. In the absence of a Marcos heir, a suitable substitute is needed. Enter the Marcos surrogate, the billionaire House Speaker Martin Romualdez, who, together with first lady Liza, form a formidable political alliance. These two are believed to hold the levers of power in government, with perhaps the acquiescence of the clueless president.

Liza

Among spouses of male Philippine presidents, Liza Araneta-Marcos ranks as perhaps the most accomplished. A practicing lawyer and an academic, she finished at the country's best schools, studied abroad and for a time lived in New York. The first glimpse of Liza's public demeanor was her interview with Boy Abunda in March 2022, just after her husband won the presidency. Asked if she was taking a government post, her retort: "I'll cross the bridge when I get there. But if ever, teaching will be good. I'm a lawyer. But entering government? No way. They can't afford me," she said with a laugh. "I'll fire all of them. I'm very New York, so it has to be my way or the highway," Liza added.

Such a response with a tinge of arrogance could be dismissed as "tongue in cheek." But just at the cusp of her new role as a first lady and wife of a Marcos, one can't dismiss the eerie feeling of déjà vu, harking back to another first lady of the 3,000 pairs of shoes.

It is unfair at this point to compare Liza to Imelda, but many of the old Marcos loyalists and protagonists still remember the infamous conjugal dictatorship — and the dread that it could be reprised in a contemporary setting. Looking back, Imelda was one of a kind, not so much for her influence over Macoy, especially in the closing days of his regime, but for being a polarizing figure who both elicited admiration and vilification.

Macoy's first lady was a woman of leisure, known for her profligacy in her New York shopping sprees, her extravagant parties, her well-choreographed state visits, and her hobnobbing with the jet-setters and Hollywood celebrities. She was appointed secretary of her own cabinet-ranked human settlements department and was elected to the Marcos "Batasang Pambansa," from whence she parlayed her position and prestige to indulge in her "edifice complex"; a slew of "Centers" — Cultural Center, Philippine Heart Center, Lung Center, Philippine International Convention Center, Manila Film Center, the Coconut Place, San Juanico Bridge — and all these are still standing.

Her extravagant lifestyle and vast collections of prime property, artwork and jewelry are emblematic of the corruption and excesses of the Marcos regime. Ferdinand Macoy is gone while Imelda lives. Urban legend has assumed a certain patina of truth: that Imelda caused the husband's downfall. Filipinos are currently fearful of a virtual doppelganger.

Unholy alliance

Liza is not an Imelda. She doesn't possess the beauty, the elegance, the stature and the political acumen of the "Iron Butterfly." But she has the intellect, the fierce qualities of a protective mother hen and the manipulative subtlety of a New Yorker, as seen in how she pushes Speaker Martin out front and center to do her bidding — demolishing Sara at the budget hearings, fronted by the speaker's acolytes, the shameless duo, Quimbo and Abante, who in the course of their inquisition lay themselves open to societal opprobrium over their public display of unexplained wealth — branded luxury watches and Birkin bags.

An erstwhile Malacañang insider minced no words in describing the first lady. Vic Rodriguez, BBM's close friend and chief strategist during the 2022 election campaign, who was rewarded with the choice position of executive secretary was unequivocal on who runs the country: "Araneta-Marcos wanted to insert her influence into revenue-generating offices like the Bureau of Customs (BoC), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). She even called meetings at Malacañang with Cabinet members."

Make no mistake, the puppet strings are being pulled by the lady in Malacañang.

The Senate President crowed yesterday that the party he nominally coheads, PDP-Laban, has a “pleasant problem” — too many potential senatorial candidates. Koko Pimentel’s estimate is they have up to 20 possible choices for the 12-person slate for the 2019 senatorial race. But his list includes the five administration-affiliated senatorial incumbents up for reelection next year. This is a group that has made noises that, much as it prefers to remain in the administration camp, it is unhappy with the way PDP-Laban has been designating its local leaders and candidates, and therefore prefers to strike out on its own, perhaps in alliance with the other administration (regional) party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago, headed by the President’s daughter and current Davao City mayor, Sara Duterte.

Setting aside, then, the five-person “Force,” the administration-oriented but not PDP-friendly reelectionists (Nancy Binay, Sonny Angara, Cynthia Villar, Grace Poe, and JV Ejercito), what Koko’s crowing over is a mixed bag. Some of them have been floated by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez (with whom Mayor Duterte clashed in recent months): six representatives (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who is in her last term in the House of Representatives; Albee Benitez, Karlo Nograles, Rey Umali, Geraldine Roman, and Zajid Mangudadatu), three Cabinet members (Bong Go, Harry Roque, and Francis Tolentino), and two other officials (Mocha Uson and Ronald dela Rosa), which still only adds up to 11 possible candidates (who are the missing three?).

Of all of these, the “Force” reelectionists are only fair-weather allies of the present dispensation; their setting themselves apart is about much more than the mess PDP-Laban made in, say, San Juan where support for the Zamoras makes it extremely unattractive for JV Ejercito to consider being in the same slate. Their cohesion is about thinking ahead: Creating the nucleus for the main coalition to beat in the 2022 presidential election. The contingent of congressmen and congresswomen who could become candidates for the Senate, however, seems more a means to kick the Speaker’s rivals upstairs (at least in the case of Benitez and Arroyo) and pad the candidates’ list with token but sacrificial candidates, a similar situation to the executive officials being mentioned as possible candidates (of the executive officials, only Go seems viable, but making him run would deprive the President of the man who actually runs the executive department, and would be a clear signal that the administration is shifting to a post-term protection attitude instead of the more ambitious system-change mode it’s been on, so far).

Vice President Leni Robredo has been more circumspect, saying she’s not sure the Liberal Party can even muster a full slate. The party chair, Kiko Pangilinan, denied that a list circulating online (incumbent Bam Aquino, former senators Mar Roxas, Jun Magsaysay, TG Guingona, current and former representatives Jose Christopher Belmonte, Kaka Bag-ao, Edcel Lagman, Raul Daza, Gary Alejano and Erin Tañada, former governor Eddie Panlilio and Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña) had any basis in fact.

What both lists have in common is they could be surveys-on-the-cheap, trial balloons to get the public pulse. Until the 17th Congress reconvenes briefly from May 14 to June 1 for the tail end of its second regular session (only to adjourn sine die until the third regular session begins on July 23), it has nothing much to do. Except, that is, for the barangay elections in May, after a last-ditch effort by the House to postpone them yet again to October failed.

Names can be floated but the real signal will come in July, when the President mounts the rostrum and calls for the big push for a new constitution—or not. Connected to this would be whether the Supreme Court disposes of its own chief, which would spare the Senate—and thus, free up the legislative calendar—to consider Charter change instead of an impeachment trial. In the meantime, what congressmen do seem abuzz over is an unrefusable invitation to the Palace tomorrow — to mark Arroyo’s birthday. An event possibly pregnant with meaning.

“Then I fall to my knees, shake a rattle at the skies and I’m afraid that I’ll be taken, abandoned, forsaken in her cold coffee eyes.” – A quote from the song, “She moves on” by Paul Simon, singer/songwriter

THE recent tremors affecting the central provinces of Mindanao caused by a series of seismic waves radiating to the northern and southern parts of the island, were like nature shaking a rattle, emitting sharp sounds and unnerving motions from the underground, both frightening and bewildering as to the intensity and confusion they generated.

The successive earthquakes and aftershocks were rattling the nerves not only of residents close to the epicenter but also those living along the active fault planes who were not used to strong earth movements. Some reported dizziness, anxiety, depression and other post-traumatic stress symptoms after experiencing continuous shaking and periodic vibrations.

As this article was written, less frequent but perceptible tremors were felt on the affected areas although everyone is reportedly bracing for aftershocks which many hope and pray, would not turn out to be the dreaded “big one,” as some irresponsible persons are falsely posting on social media. Shake a rattle drum to this latter blokes.

According to Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), since the 1900s, Mindanao has been rocked by at least 35 earthquakes, three of which, felt at “Intensity 7” or worse, were deemed destructive: the 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake which caused a tsunami reaching up to nine meters that killed about 8,000 people including the unaccounted ones; the 1999 series of earthquakes in Agusan del Sur damaging roads, and poorly constructed schools and infrastructure; and the Sultan Kudarat earthquake in 2002, killing eight people with 41 others injured and affecting over seven thousand families in the provinces of Sarangani, North and South Cotabato (Rappler 2019). Shake a rattle of prayers for all who perished in these tragedies.

The series of earthquakes in October of this year, just weeks apart, with magnitudes of over 6 hitting many provinces, again, in Cotabato and southern parts of Davao accounted for the death toll of 22, damaging homes, school buildings and many infrastructure, shaking and sending chills to many residents who have to deal with continuing albeit smaller tremors which can be felt as far up the city of Cagayan de Oro and down the southern province of Sarangani.

Some local officials reported residents having developed “earthquake phobia” keeping watch on their clock hanging inside their tents in evacuation sites, losing sleep with anxiety awaiting when the next tremor would be coming. With frayed nerves, some would panic over even slight ground shakings.

But this is not about the temblor as much as the response of people and the country’s leaders and responsible officials. Except for the government of China which donated P22 million in aid and support for relief efforts in Mindanao, hurray for China, other foreign countries just expressed condolences and messages of sympathy to families of victims. No pledges, no assistance. Perhaps, they can’t trust our government agencies to do the job for them anymore. To them, a shake of the baby rattle.

To the initial bunch of donors who immediately come with their financial assistance such as Yorme Isko Moreno of Manila with his P5 million personal money, Mayor Vico Sotto with relief goods and P14 million coming from the people of Pasig City, Mayor Marcy Teodoro of Marikina with 100 modular tents, movie star Angel Locsin who moved about sans fanfare for her charity work offering food and other assistance to victims in Davao and North Cotabato, to Mayor Inday Duterte for relief distribution, Cebu provincial government for disaster relief campaign and to the many nameless others who came with their relief aids, shake a rattle of joy and thankfulness for their kindness and generosity.

To our government officials and politicians goes our appeal to set aside politics, distribute the relief items according to the wishes of their donors and not allow goods to rot because of political colors as was shown in the previous administration’s handling of donated goods. To them, shake a rattle of enlightenment and peace.

In whatever disaster or crisis that befalls the country, trust Filipinos’ resiliency and coping mechanisms such as resorting to prayers and humor to come to their succor.

Social media become a natural venue for memes, practical jokes and bantering such as the ones which came after Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy reportedly claimed that he caused to stop the earthquakes so they can no longer create damage. To everyone, shake a rattle of laughter and fun while we help provide for the needs of our less fortunate brethren in Cotabato and Davao provinces.