Stone-cold silence

It is worth waiting how the present administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) will observe the 37th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution this week. This annual observance culminates on Feb. 25, falling on Saturday this year. It was on Feb.25, 1986 when PBBM’s namesake father, former President Ferdinand Sr. (FM) was ousted and their entire family fled to self-exile in Hawaii.

Dubbed as the People Power anniversary, this is commemorated every year as a special non-working holiday. To his credit, PBBM signed last year Proclamation No. 90 that included among the eight special non-working days the Feb.25 People Power Revolution Anniversary as well as the Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Day Aug.21 (Monday).

Obviously, past is past as far as the Marcoses are concerned. The Marcos family has moved on from what PBBM earlier described as “dark days” of the EDSA people power-driven uprising.

Aided by key loyal officers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), then Defense Minister Juan Ponce-Enrile and erstwhile PC-INP chief Fidel V.Ramos led the breakaway group of military and police allies that launched the coup d’ etat against FM presidency. The late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin initiated the call for “people power” that protected the Enrile-Ramos breakaway group at Camp Aguinaldo in EDSA, Quezon City. Subsequent events led to the late President Corazon Aquino, Ninoy’s widow, being swept into office after the Marcoses vacated Malacanang Palace.

The rest of the story, as we say, is history. The Marcoses and their so-called “cronies” who fled the Philippines all gradually returned to the country. Former First Lady Imelda Marcos ran but lost in the May,1992 presidential election that was won by Ramos. She, however, later got elected as Congresswoman in her home province in Leyte. Eldest daughter Imee first got elected as Ilocos Norte Congresswoman in 1998 while younger brother Bongbong won his first term as Governor in their home province.

Fast forward. Now calling herself as “super Ate,” Imee is on her first term at the Senate. Now 93 years old, Mrs. Marcos has retired from politics. Enrile works again in the Cabinet of PBBM as his Chief Presidential Legal Counsel. Still influential, and powerful, health-wise, if I may add, Enrile turned 99 years old last Feb.14, coinciding with Valentines’ Day.

On Valentines Day, “A public statement on poverty, corruption, and injustice” was published as a full page paid advertisement at The Philippine STAR. On that day of hearts, a group of retired AFP chiefs of staff affixed their respective signatures under a group they named as Advocates for National Interest (ANI). They identified their group as holding office at Suite 509, President Tower Bldg., 81 Tower Avenue in Quezon City.

“We, retired senior military officers and government officials who advocate national interest, support the call of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to tighten the checks and balances in order to revitalize the economy by proper usage of public funds so they are ‘not reduced by the corrupt…not squandered and not wasted,” the ANI declared their preamble.

Leading the 20 signatories was our own STAR columnist, former Air Force commanding general Ramon Farolan. His Third Eye column comes out every Sunday. Incidentally, Farolan was for a while the editor-in-chief of The STAR. The ANI “public statement” was signed also by retired AFP chief of staff Renato de Villa who later served as Defense Secretary during the Ramos presidency. He later became the Executive Secretary for a short while under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo following EDSA-2 when former President Joseph Estrada was ousted out of Malacañang.

The other signatories of the ANI statement included AFP chiefs of staff Rodolfo Biazon (who subsequently got elected senator and later as Muntinlupa City congressman); and, Emmanuel Bautista who later served as social welfare secretary of former President Rodrigo Duterte. The other retired AFP chiefs of staff who signed the statement were, namely, Victor Ibrado, Eduardo Oban and Alexander Yano.

“WE, THEREFORE STRONGLY RECOMMEND to the public officials concerned, that to institutionalize good governance, the constitutional provision on removing political dynasties be legislated as soon as possible and that electoral reforms to do away with money politics be initiated and implemented in due time, before the next elections in May, 2025,” the ANI public statement as published read, and ended its call printed in bold letters: “We know the enemy. It’s now time to slay it.”

But these big, brave words were met with deafening silence.

Over the weekend though, the AFP issued a statement calling upon all Filipinos for support and prayers to the defense of the country’s maritime territory amid China’s increasing aggressiveness in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). In behalf of the military establishment, AFP spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar issued this call after their Commander-in-chief vowed he “will continue to uphold our territorial integrity and sovereignty in accordance with our Constitution and with international law.”

PBBM’s speech before the alumni of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in Baguio City on Saturday came a few days after the latest incident at the disputed waters in South China Sea. A Chinese Coast Guard vessel pointed a military-grade laser at the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) ship bringing new supplies to soldiers stationed at the grounded BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin Shoal earlier this month. The PCG admitted on Monday it has only three patrol boats capable of long deployment at the WPS.

But the ANI statement received stone-cold silence. As of this writing, even both Malacañang as well as the current leaderships at the Defense Department and the AFP have not commented on the widely published ANI statement. Was it just swept under the rug?

Ironically, even lawmakers who are actively engaged in the latest attempts to amend the country’s 1987 Constitution did not give a hoot. What gives?