A parallelism exists between politics and physics in Newton’s third law of motion, viz: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Thus, if Politician X smites Politician Y, expect the latter to smite back with everything in his war chest.
There are only three power brokers, namely, the President, the First Lady, and the Speaker — by whose meeting of minds things get done or undone. Recent events, one after the other, indicate what this political powerhouse in Malacañang is capable of doing.
When the Vice President resigned as education secretary, signaling her breakaway from the UniTeam, in no time the repercussions became manifestly worse. Both chambers of Congress separately subjected her to inquiries over the confidential funds of her offices, froze her agency budget, which culminated in her impeachment.
The political rift resulted in the government surrendering the patriarch of the Duterte family to the custody of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The recent reported raid of the Dutertes’ residence by 30 CIDG operatives and 90 SAF personnel from Luzon could only be the handiwork of an offended administration.
The big web of conflicts, contradictions, diametrically opposed ideologies, competing narratives, legal smokescreens, and logrolling (i.e. “ayuda”) may all seem to be a state of flux rather than organized chaos. The preventive suspension of the governor of Cebu saw the President himself as the wrecking crew.
The newly inked Status of Visiting Forces Agreement with New Zealand, not to mention 50 more such agreements currently under review by the Department of National Defense, demonstrates a subscription to Western defense approaches. Is China the country we are in a proxy war with, hence the bilateral and multilateral agreements the defense secretary is unrelentingly working for?
At this point in time, when the “expansion of state expenditures outpaced revenue collection,” the budget deficit will continue to widen such that only acquiring more loans can fill the fiscal space. In fact, the sale of Treasury Notes to domestic investors at large is a fiscal bubble soon to burst.
Voltaire once said: “It is dangerous to be right in matters about which the established authorities are wrong.” If no one revolts, who will? If not now, when?
Insofar as the Senate is concerned, the post-election scenario would likely be a controlling majority for the Marcos camp, a tiny minority for the Duterte counterpart. This might be true in the House of Representatives since the grand scale “ayuda” has become the ghost in the machine.
Even Rep. Rodante Marcoleta’s fate might hang on a thread since the power of name recall for celebrities and dynasties takes a larger bite of the voters’ pie. With the same old senators inhabiting the Senate, with no new additions, it’s as if the President’s men are laughing all the way to the bank.
With reported cases of unfinished infrastructure projects or in questionable states of completion running in the hundreds of millions in any given legislative district, how much more could be siphoned off if another P4 billion each is downloaded for those loyal to the Speaker?
The recent revelation of a P9-billion Oplan Horus as disclosed by the President’s sister is cause for concern. The plan is intended to eliminate the threat of a Sara win in 2028. Rumors are circulating that Tatay Digong’s co-perpetrators will be transported to The Hague to suffer the same fate.
For another thing, the approved plan to create two more cities with the combined sizes of Manila and Marikina (i.e., 6,100 hectares of new land) via reclamation in Manila Bay has met with resistance from experts tapped by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources who think it will cause massive flooding, water contamination and loss of fishing grounds.
News accounts about the police are mirror perfect with the press releases originating from the PNP itself. This should put mainstream media on wake-up rather than sleeping mode — please!
