President Duterte has doubled down on his claim that an unnamed presidential candidate is doing cocaine. He further ratcheted up his allegation by saying that this presidential aspirant who comes from a wealthy family “whose last name means strong” does the illegal act in places like on a yacht or a private plane.
Duterte added that he only divulged the information so that he would not be blamed later for keeping it secret. “If you do not believe it,” he said, “then leave it that way.”
This latest tirade coming from the highest official of the land has certainly added spice to the already saucy 2022 presidential election, which is replete with twists and turns that make it seem like a circus to many people. It’s amusing and at the same revolting. Just think of the thousands of poor, helpless people who were tortured or killed in Duterte’s relentless and vicious war on drugs without the benefit of due process. Now here is the president saying off the cuff that an influential presidential aspirant has a drug habit that is “only cocaine, not shabu,” which practically veils the former from criminal scrutiny. In the Philippines, shabu is a common street drug considered to be the “poor man’s cocaine”.
But what has tickled the imagination of the public is the identity of the cocaine-using presidential aspirant whom Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa said will be later unmasked by his boss. According to Dela Rosa, the chief architect of Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, “The President does not need to be told that [he should name names]. He will later reveal the identity of that person.”
Dela Rosa, who claims no first-hand knowledge, then ticked off some names: “Let’s check each one. Will Manny Pacquiao use illegal drugs? I don’t think [Leni] Robredo is also into using since she looks okay. Bong Go? I’m sure he’s not. Isko Moreno? I’m not so sure, he came from showbiz. Ping Lacson? I’m very sure he’s not.” When pressed about what he thought of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., he said: “I don’t have any knowledge on that. I don’t know about him.”
The camp of Marcos Jr. said he is not the one being alluded to by the President, a statement deemed by critics as too defensive. Nonetheless, he took a drug test and, from the document shared with media, showed him negative for cocaine. Before him, Senator Panfilo Lacson and his running mate Senate President Vicente Sotto III voluntarily underwent drug testing and were reported negative for cocaine and other illegal drugs.
In the early part of his tenure, President Duterte has been effusive in his praise for the son of the former dictator, expressing that he had hoped for Marcos Jr. to have won the vice presidential race. Duterte said he wanted to retire and wished for Bongbong to succeed him. The Marcos family is one of Duterte’s biggest donors in the 2016 presidential elections.
In a 180-degree turn, the president now says: “What did that person do? What contribution has he made to the Philippines? Why are Filipinos so crazy about supporting that person?
He warned the public, “Bahala kayo kung anong gusto ninyo na tao. Inyo ‘yan, ang akin lang, pagdating ng panahon, basta sinabi ko sa inyo, he is a very weak leader, ang character, except for the name… ang tatay… pero siya, anong ginawa niya?” (It’s up to you to choose the person you want. That’s yours, but as for me, when the time comes, as I told you, he is a very weak leader, his character, except for the name…his father… but he, what has he done?”)
While the president continues his diatribes, his daughter Sara Duterte Carpio has steadfastly defended Marcos Jr. She’s running as Bongbong’s vice president under the alliance between the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) or the Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan (PDDS) and the Lakas-CMD.
During a joint conference of the National-Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (Elcac), the president said Marcos is the reason he is against the alliance. “No, I cannot, because nandiyan si Marcos. Hindi ako bilib sa kanya (“No, I cannot, because Marcos is there, I don’t believe in him”). He called Marcos “a weak leader” and a “spoiled child and only son.”
In the 2022 elections, the president is running for senator under PDDS, which is allied with the ruling PDP-Laban. He is supporting the presidential bid of Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, vouching for Go’s competence to lead the country and describing him as a “bright” person.
If we were to believe YouTube vlogger and staunch Duterte supporter RJ Nieto (Thinking Pinoy), the president is being kept away even from his own family by a cordon sanitaire in Malacañang. In one of his vlogs, he accuses Go and Martin Andanar (Secretary of the Presidential Communications Office) of keeping Duterte out of the loop. Duterte was to run for vice president and even went to the Comelec office with Go and Andanar, only to be told by reporters that his daughter had already filed for the same position. In Nieto’s YouTube video, Duterte could be seen shocked at the revelation.
Duterte was reported to be furious at Sara’s swivel and stopped short at using cusswords. He and his supporters are incensed and let down by Sara’s decision to run for an office lower than that of a president’s. Duterte claims that he was not consulted.
Duterte’s feud with his daughter has created a rift in what was believed to be a strong union between supporters of the incumbent president and the former dictator’s son. The Filipino people are now witnessing a spectacle of what many claim to be the mudslinging battle of the DDS (Duterte’s Davao Supporters) and BBM (Bongbong Marcos) “troll farms”.
For me, Duterte and Bongbong are like two peas in a pod, fed by their desire for power.
Bongbong wants to revive his family’s hold on Philippine politics, which Marcos Sr. clung to for 20 years until he was ousted through a peaceful people power revolution. He is now knocking at the doors of Malacañang, pulling all the stops in revising history through the use or misuse of the social media that had been painstakingly nurtured through the years by his family and their supporters.
Duterte, on the other hand, is dead set on bolstering his family’s political clout in a country that has been ruled for the longest time by political dynasties. He and his allies are running for high government positions to help him escape culpability for his atrocious war on drugs, which has been independently estimated at more than 20,000 deaths. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is just like a Damocles sword swinging closer down his neck. While immunity does not extend to the august halls of the Senate, acquiring a seat there, Duterte believes, would give him some sort of protection: license to elude arrest while the upper chamber is in session, and substantial political weight.
But is Duterte’s and Bongbong’s political fisticuff for real, or are we being subjected to a sideshow? We will only know if and when the ringmaster bids farewell to the circus crowd.
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