Relatively safe it is to say now that insofar as what’s been going on in the alliance — of convenience — politics of the Filipino Right blowhards of the pro-Duterte variety they have lost another bruising round to the wily Marcos loyalists.
Such is the unavoidable conclusion after Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s third hearing last week on the alleged involvement of President Marcos Jr. in illegal drugs failed to establish or substantiate anything.
Dela Rosa’s committee has conducted three hearings on the so-called PDEA leaks which had riveted the Right in recent days.
(Those professing liberal and centrist politics — those whom the Right sneer at as “bleeding hearts” — haven’t given a hoot about what the political Right talks about these days.)
But then those with liberal or centrist politics have had enough reason to be preoccupied elsewhere, particularly since they were counting major victories in their difficult and hazardous struggle for upholding human rights, of which the Right often had only a vague memory of — a distinct failing that led the Right straight to the ICC.
The Supreme Court, at any rate, has effectively silenced a few notorious fascists who’ve been on a “red tagging” binge since the previous regime. The High Court said “red-tagging” is definitely a threat to the life, liberty, and security of those targeted.
The Marcos government, meanwhile, also created a “super body” tasked to “further champion human rights protection” in the country.
The supposed PDEA leaks stemmed from a pre-operation report in 2012 which alleged that “a group of showbiz and politically affluent personalities are frequently using illegal drugs” in a condominium in Makati City. The supposed PDEA report then indicated that the now Chief Executive and actress Maricel Soriano were allegedly using illegal drugs.
President Marcos has since laughed off the allegations.
By itself, allegations about the President being a drug user are certainly no laughing matter. Certainly, any serious allegations about drug use strike at the integrity of the President’s high office.
But despite Dela Rosa’s pious — sometimes pompous and righteous — earnestness, the allegations, when checked out in detail during the hearings, were found to be quite baseless.
In the process, other senators concluded the so-called documents presented at the hearings illustrated the reprehensible practice of falsification and slander.
Bright-eyed Dela Rosa, nonetheless, was still oblivious to what was staring him in the face and vowed to conduct a fourth hearing. It remains to be seen if he will get his wish.
At any rate, a disturbed Senate President Miguel Zubiri was forced to warn his colleagues to stop using Senate hearings for political persecution.
Zubiri didn’t elaborate on his warning nor say to whom specifically his warning was directed.
But it was obvious that he was referring to the swirling suspicions that the hearings and the allegations were but another scheme in the ongoing try to destabilize Mr. Marcos by his erstwhile allies turned political foes.
Such then is the present state of the politics preoccupying and bruising the Filipino Right.
How soon this “mini civil war,” as one commentator had it, engulfing the Filipino Right will spill over to other political groupings remains to be seen.
But it is worthwhile to consider that whatever happens next depends on how fast and nimble the supporters of both the Marcos and Duterte camps can burst out of their fanatics-only bubbles and get the political mainstream on their side.
That seems to be far from happening just yet.
In fact, one could even say that the Senate hearings on the allegations about the President’s use of illegal drugs was an attempt by the Duterte camp to get into the mainstream’s political conversation.
But as it has turned out, the attempt seems to have failed miserably, convincing most Rightists that the Marcos camp has since gained another political advantage in its contest of wills against its recalcitrant junior partner, the Duterte camp.