One of the spectacular “movie series” that the Filipino community in Barcelona watches and follows almost every day, and for which they await with excitement new episodes as they unfold on social media platforms, is not made in Hollywood and is not based on a best-selling novel or a fiction.
Well, it is not actually a movie thriller, but a thriller nonetheless. It is the escalating Marcos-Duterte feud that keeps Pinoys, mostly OFWs, entertained—a diversion from their monotonous daily activity of providing dollars for the economy of our country, including the salaries of the actors of this unfolding drama.
That the lead actors are no less than the president and the vice-president of the world’s sixth largest democracy has caught international attention and is the subject of ongoing studies on the evolving culture and global governance of democratic countries by political scholars and scientists.
President Bongbong Marcos is the son of the former dictator who ruled for two decades, then fled to Hawaii (a story goes that Marcos Sr. misheard it for “Paoay”) with his wife, Imelda, and family, bringing along much of our country’s wealth in 22 crates of cash and millions of dollars-worth of jewellery, as well as secret overseas bank accounts which have yet to be fully accounted for.
The Marcos dictatorship was mired with corruption and extrajudicial killings of thousands of activists and nationalists, branded as “communists,” among other crimes attributed to his regime.
In 1989, Marcos died in Hawaii. The Marcos family was then allowed to return to the Philippines in 1991 by President Corazon Aquino, the wife of Ninoy Aquino, whose murder was attributed to the Marcos dictatorship.
Upon their return, Imelda and daughter Imee started to rebuild their political network. Eventually, during various terms of office, Imelda and Imee became governors of Ilocos Norte. Presently, Imee sits as senator. Imelda ran for president in 1992 (finished 5th out of six candidates)—an election won by Fidel V. Ramos, tagged a hero of the 1986 EDSA Revolution that toppled the Marcos dictatorship.
Bongbong also held the positions of governor, congressman of Ilocos Norte, then senator. Pundits saw that the rise in power of the Marcos family following their exile to Hawaii was attributed to the two decades of Marcos dictatorship during which the strongman Marcos and his wife, Imelda, dispensed favours to thousands of people, using the government treasury and the former’s strongman influence in various sectors of business, community organizations, and society, in order to obtain and keep their allegiance to the family and thus creating their own cult-like following that bolstered the Marcoses’ return and presence in Philippine politics.
In 2016, Bongbong ran for vice president but lost to Leni Robredo. Bongbong’s votes came significantly from the Luzon electorate but he was wanting when it came to votes in the south. He was, however, given the agriculture secretary portfolio during the Duterte administration, apparently because he threw in his support for Duterte as president in the said elections. When Bongbong decided to run for President in 2022, he needed a running mate for vice president who could deliver him victory in the south. He, therefore, asked Sara Duterte to be his running mate.
Sara Duterte is the daughter of ex-president Digong Duterte, who became popular (or notorious?) because of his strong-arm rule and tactics as mayor of Davao City, which he “ruled” for several years.
Davao is actually “Duterte country.” As mayor in Davao City, Digong boasted there was zero crime in his city because he had a vigilante group, which human rights advocates and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) call the “Davao Death Squad” (DDS).
When Digong assumed his presidency, he appointed as PNP Chief Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa, who was the chief of police of Davao City. During his term as PNP chief, Bato came under fire for human rights violations in the “war on drugs” which claimed the lives of thousands of Filipinos through extrajudicial killings reminiscent of Davao Death Squad tactics.
Sara was mayor of Davao City and showed the feisty brand of administration like that of her father’s, including the crude and vulgar angry utterances reminiscent of Digong. Sara was being groomed to run for president in the 2022 elections considering the popularity of President Digong at that time.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
