Masking Marcos-Romualdez’ Faustian Pact with Communist Terrorists?
Part One: The Marcos-Romualdez War against The Dutertes
Just as Rasputin exerted a powerful influence in the Russian monarchy at the turn of the 19th century, Lucas Purugganan Bersamin is evolving into a similar divisive figure in Philippine politics.
Lately, the executive secretary is seen as power-tripping in the light of recent events involving the Duterte and Marcos families.
Th allusion to a monarchy is not accidental. Since last year, President Bongbong Marcos has been behaving like a monarch, but with his wife lording most of Palace decisions and his cousin Martin Romualdez, the speaker of the lower house of Congress literally wasting the purse of the government and usurping presidential functions.
The president has been seen more of an administrative assistant, rather than chief executive of the country, often leaving a vacuum for his executive secretary to fill. The Bersamin version, however, leaves much away from objectivity. Instead of being an illumination behind the Presidency, he has graduated into an aggravation.
Misquoting Sara
When Vice-President Sara Duterte commented on ongoing security threats to her life, saying: “Don’t worry about my safety. I have talked to a person and I said, if I get killed, go kill BBM [Marcos], [First Lady] Liza Araneta, and [Speaker] Martin Romualdez…” the executive secretary carelessly jumped into the water.
In a statement released by the Presidential Communications Office on Saturday, November 23, Bersamin said, “Acting on the Vice President’s clear and unequivocal statement that she had contracted an assassin to kill the President if an alleged plot against her succeeds,” he regards this as an active threat to the president’s security.
How can the vice-president’s words delivered in the conditional mood be clear and unequivocal? In latin, condicio praecedens adimpleri debet prius quam sequatur … “A condition precedent should be fulfilled before the effect can follow.”
“There is no reason for me to do that. What benefit would that bring me? If I were to kill Liza, what would I gain from that? Nothing. It would be different if I were the heir to ill-gotten wealth, but I’m not,” Duterte said during an interview with the media.
Sara explained “How would revenge from the grave be a threat? Common sense should be enough for us to understand and accept that a supposed conditional act of revenge does not constitute to an active threat. This is a plan without a flesh.”
Besides, Sara Duterte never used the word “assassin”, pointing out that her words were “maliciously taken out of logical context” by no less than a former magistrate.
The National Bureau of Investigation immediately issued the vice president a subpoena, which she of course ignored. On the other hand, Ombudsman Samuel Martires said his office has no jurisdiction to probe Vice President Sara Duterte’s alleged “kill” statements.
Martires made the clarification when asked about Justice Undersecretary Jesse Andres statement that Duterte “is not immune from suit and she can be subject of any criminal and administrative case” and that it is within the Ombudsman’s authority to act on this matter.
“To us in the Office of the Ombudsman, this is a misleading statement — a disinformation to the public —because these utterances of the vice president are private in character. We could investigate if the threats were made in the course of Sara Duterte’s duties as Vice President.”
Martires explained that the Ombudsman mainly probes cases committed under the Republic Act (RA) 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and offenses under the Revised Penal Code related to RA 3019.
He clarified that there is no bad blood with the Department of Justice but he was compelled to comment because “We just felt like we were being led on. It’s like telling the public that the Ombudsman has this power so they should investigate the Vice President’s statements.
Martires also addressed the allegations that he’s favoring the Vice President because her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, appointed him. He responded when he was appointed in 2018, Duterte told him to “just do what you think is right” and “not to babysit my men.”
“They’re saying I’m an appointee of the elder Duterte. Yes, I am and so are the other deputies, but we’re just doing our job. We’re serving our countrymen to the best of our ability.
“So, such a statement is unfair because it does not only apply to us but also to the future Ombudsmen. They may check my record. No one endorsed me to the elder Duterte when I applied to the Supreme Court.
Demonization covers-up malgovernance
Afterall, to divert the attention of the public from Marcos’ lack of visible accomplishments and his cousin Speaker Romualdez’s ambitious prepworks for the 2028 presidency, the lower house of Congress had been busy for more than a year pinning down the former president regarding his erstwhile War-on Drugs, and the vice president for DepEd’s confidential funds.
Romualdez’s war on the Dutertes, however, reached a climax at the Quadcomm hearings last month when the committee cited for contempt the vice president’s chief of staff and ordered her detained first at the Batasan facility.
The anomaly itself was self-evident. Atty Zuleika Lopez was charged for earlier requesting the Commission on Audit not to submit audit documents that were still in the process of being considered by COA and which had not reached any finality.
Quadcomm considered this as an interference in their conduct of its business, when Atty. Lopez only aimed to protect and preserve the integrity of the audit and due process, and COA as an independent distinct Constitutional body.
The detainee, as a lawyer, was cautioning Congress from an illegal act violating the separation of powers under our Constitution, and COA diluting its powers and functions, an anomaly that the dumb congressmen were not aware that could trigger a constitutional crisis.
Not only did Quadcomm detained someone for doing a righteous act but aggravated its abuse by later illegally ordering her to be transferred to the Correctional Institution for Women, a facility for convicted criminals and judicially-accused suspects.
Quadcomm had abused its discretion three month earlier by sending to CIW Cassandra Li Ong, a key witness in the congressional probe into illegal offshore gaming operations, after she was cited in contempt anew for supposedly evading questions. Since nobody called the attention of Congress, Quadcomm assumed it was a correct action.
The Lopez case, however, made an expected turn as conditions of the lawyer deteriorated into a medical emergency. When Vice President Sara Duterte intervened, a policeman almost slammed the rear door of the ambulance into her face and body.
As her Presidential Security detail protected the vice-president, the Philippine National Police pressed charges against them. The AFP Chief of Staff made a booboo by surrendering the soldiers to the custody of the police, violating military protocol and insulting the Judge Advocate’s office.
In the face of all these incompetence and abuses, people power started to form at the gates of the Veterans Memorial Hospital where Lopez was taken to. Later the crowds transferred to the EDSA Shrine at the corner of Ortigas Ave holding protest rallies for days, at one time growing to about 5,000.
Running on panic-mode, President Marcos Jr. sent texts to urging lawmakers not to file an impeachment complaint against the vice president.
Despite their apparent rift, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is not supportive of any impeachment plan against Vice President Sara Duterte. On November 29, he confirmed this, expressing his belief that an impeachment plan would not benefit the lives of Filipinos.
“What will happen if somebody files an impeachment? It will tie down the House, it will tie down the Senate. It will just take up all our time, for what? For nothing. None of this will help improve a single Filipino life. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a storm in a tea cup,” Marcos added.
The move was clearly calculated to dose cold water on groups threatening to swell its protest to Liwasang Bonifacio in addition to the EDSA Shrine, ibn observance of Bonifacio Day on November 30.
Palace’s equivocation
But last December 2, sixteen signatories filed an impeachment complaint against the vice president which was endorsed by Akbayan Party-list, and received by the House Secretary-General Reginald Velasco.
Bersamin again interjected a day after, saying, “The President has nothing to do with it. The impeachment complaint filed in the House of Representatives by several private citizens is clearly the complainants’ independent initiative, and its endorsement the prerogative of any Member of the House of Representatives.”
The executive secretary further said that “the President’s earlier statement on the matter is unambiguous.” In a separate interview he maintained they are “not going to encourage” the move.
Duterte supporters, however, have taken Malacanang’s disavowal with a grain of salt. For the past year, the demonization of the Dutertes in the lower house of Congress has been going on.
Marcos only acted when the rumblings at the EDSA Shrine started reverberating among retired generals from the Philippine Military Academy and the active military from colonel ranks and below, as a picture of Speaker Romualdez meeting with the Makabayan Bloc in Congress started circulating in social media.
Many soldiers have sacrificed their lives and limbs in fierce combat against the the communist armed groups. Reducing’ CPP-NPA-NDF terrorists ranks to almost nil, via the National Task Force ELCAC but here the first cousin of the president appears to be sleeping with the enemy. Besides the leftist partylists’ weaponization of congressional hearings against the vice president, rumors of excessive funding of the pockets of Frances Castro, Raoul Manuel and Arlene Brosas and Joseph Stephen Paduano.
Castro has been convicted by a regional trial court of human trafficking involving minors. Manuel is a well-known recruiter for NPA cadres as a student leader in UP. Brosas represents Gabriela, one of the CPP front organizations acknowledged by no less than defunct Jose Maria Sison, and Paduano is aka Carapali Lualhalti of Alex Boncayao Brigade, the military wing of the Revolutionary Workers’ Party, that split from the Communist Party of the Philippines.
One retiree even called AFP Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner, a “coward” in his Facebook page while a PMA white paper started circulating asking for his resignation.
The Moro National Liberation Front has also volunteered to substitute as security detail for the vice president, and an alleged armed group called freedom guerilla fighters, led by retired military officers, threatened to declare a revolt in Mindanao if a single civilian is harmed at EDSA.
Marcos and Romualdez has planted the seeds of a possible revival of armed insurgencies in the countryside as supported by their urban front in the legislature. This could mean additional tombstones for our soldiers in the near future. #
To be continued, next: Classic Corruption: Lining the Pockets of Soldiery while Rest of the People Burns
72 members of the Makabayan Bloc gathered to sign the 2nd impeachment complaint against Vice President, including Frances Castro and Satur Ocampo who have been convicted by a Regional Trial Court for human trafficking of minors. The resurging influence of the political front of the CPP-NPA-NDF, is widely conceded to coddling by Speaker Martin Romualdez, including undetermined funding. This complaint is, however, seen subject to dismissal, as present laws only allow the filing of one impeachment per year. Akbayan Partylist beat Makabayan Bloc to the draw.
Adolfo Quizon Paglinawan
is former diplomat who served as press attaché and spokesman of the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC and the Philippines’ Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from April 1986 to 1993. Presently, he is vice-president for international affairs of the Asian Century Philippines Institute, a geopolitical analyst, author of books, columnist, a print and broadcast journalist, and a hobby-organic-farmer.
His best sellers, A Problem for Every Solution (2015), a characterization of factors affecting Philippine-China relations, and No Vaccine for a Virus called Racism (2020) a survey of international news attempting to tracing its origins, earned for him an international laureate in the Awards for the Promotion of Philippine-China Understanding in 2021. His third book, The Poverty of Power is now available – a historiography of controversial issues of spanning 36 years leading to the Demise of the Edsa Revolution and the Forthcoming Rise of a Philippine Phoenix.
Today he is anchor for many YouTube Channels, namely Ang Maestro Lectures @Katipunan Channel (Saturdays), Unfinished Revolution (Sundays) and Opinyon Online (Wednesdays) with Ka Mentong Laurel, and Ipa-Rush Kay Paras with former Secretary Jacinto Paras (Tuesdays and Thursdays). His personal vlog is @AdoPaglinawan.
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