No time to waste, Mr. President

On Monday, the Iglesia ni Cristo, the non-trinitarian church registered by its founder Felix Y. Manalo in 1914 as a religious corporation, staged a mammoth rally at Manila’s Rizal Park, which it dubbed as National Rally for Peace. The INC emphasized that its rally was “non-political,” no matter the presence of such die-hard supporters of the Dutertes, Senators Ronald dela Rosa, Robin Padilla and Bong Go.

Several things stood out in that rally, but one was particularly glaring. The INC call for peace was timed not long after the release of the Social Weather Station (SWS) survey revealing public clamor for the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte on various grounds.

Forty-one percent of respondents of the survey commissioned by advisory and consultancy group Stratbase are for Duterte’s impeachment, a clear reflection of the growing frustration by the public over her leadership and alleged misuse of public funds.

Conducted in mid-December, the survey results also indicated 35 percent of respondents were for Duterte’s non-impeachment while 19 percent were undecided.

Among the main reasons given by those who want to see her impeached were her failure to answer questions on and explain clearly how she used the confidential and intelligence funds issued to the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education which she had concurrently headed for a year.

Also high in the list of other reasons given by pro-impeachment respondents dealt with the issue of ill-gotten wealth that she could not explain in her Statements of Assets and Liabilities; her refusal in condemning China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea; her holiday trip with her family to Germany while typhoon “Carina” ravaged the country; her purported involvement in extrajudicial killing while she was Davao City Mayor; her ordering members of her staff to prepare accomplishment reports on the distribution of confidential and intelligence funds which were found to be supported by fabricated receipts and documents; and the profanities she spewed on and her death threats against the President, the First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos; and House Speaker Martin Romualdez; among others.

So far, three impeachment complaints have been filed by various group and endorsed by at least six members of the Lower House, and a fourth one is forthcoming.

Is the INC now asking those who support the move to impeach the VP to hold their peace and shrug away efforts to hold her accountable for her alleged deeds involving graft and corruption, treason, and crimes against humanity?

The INC said last Monday’s rally was also in support of President Marcos’ expressed opposition to impeach Duterte from the vice presidency. Yes, he did say that the process of impeachment is a waste of time. But he also said on 25 November that he will fight back against the threats on his life, his wife’s and cousin, Speaker Romualdez’s.

Speaking in Tagalog, Marcos said “the statements we heard the past few days are disturbing; there’s the non-stop cursing and the threats to kill. If it’s that easy to plan to kill the president, what more average Filipinos? That sort of criminal attempt cannot be allowed to happen. I will fight that.”

That course of action is exactly what the President should not abandon. In fact, not a few veteran political analysts say that no matter the show of force last Monday by the pseudo non-political groups like the INC, which is known for its practice of bloc-voting in elections, the President, as chief of state and commander in chief, should show counter force by using to the hilt the power of his office and show who’s boss.

One such political analyst said that if he were to advise the President, he would like to see him doggedly support moves to impeach the Vice President and allow the International Criminal Court to act on the criminal cases (crimes against humanity) against the Dutertes, if not before the elections for lack of time, then immediately after the elections.

“If the President does nothing and the Dutertes survive beyond the mid-term election, they will be able to rebuild political momentum with those who have left their camp returning — that may not happen right away, but the President cannot waste the time given to him before he becomes a lame duck; he can still accommodate many political favors, he can ask his allies in Congress to replace with supplemental budgets what they got from the national budget; fix the PhilHealth budget; give the P150 increase in minimum wage asked by labor; lower food inflation — the highest in over two decades, and the major source of the people’s self-rated poverty; eradicate the cartels, and if they cannot do that thoroughly, catch some of the hoarders and smugglers and throw them to prison,” said Llamas.

These are just some of the many low-hanging fruits, which the President and his team can easily do. “He IS the government, he has all the power to do things, those are things he can easily do,” he stressed.

Otherwise, Llamas said, if the President falters and loses the battle to the Dutertes, “I see him suffering a fate much worse than what befell his family in 1986. And he has only himself to blame.”