Political strife, Mindanao split bolster China’s treachery

Gloves are off in the feud between presidents Rody Duterte and Bongbong Marcos. But for whose benefit?

Duterte called his successor an inept, lazy cocaine addict. He posed possible ways to remove BBM: impeachment, withdrawal of cabinet and military support, drag out of Malacañang, people power, coup d’état, assassination.

BBM raked up Duterte’s fentanyl dependence. His predecessor had admitted in 2019 to using the opioid notorious for long-term side effects. A hundred times more potent than morphine and 50 times more than heroin, fentanyl addles the mind.

Provoked, Duterte challenged BBM to a simultaneous drug test at the Luneta. By then, the latter had flown off to a state visit in Vietnam. Duterte went on haranguing, defying customary ceasefire while the President is on foreign travel.

Duterte’s offspring joined the fray. Witnessing his tirade were VP-Education Secretary Sara, Rep. Paolo and Mayor Sebastian Duterte. The last heckled BBM to resign.

Supporters rallied around BBM. Cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez chided the mayor for discourtesy. First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos snubbed VP Sara.

As the political elephants stomped their feet, the ants crawled out of their mounds. Online trolls of the BBM-Sara 2022 ticket are now trashing each other.

Following the leaders, legislators also punched below the belt.

Senators accused congressmen of plotting the people’s initiative to scrap the Upper House. Congressmen told them to mind their own business.

No more inter-chamber courtesy, or disputing issues and not personalities.

Some past lawmakers had been brash. One slapped the House sergeant-at-arms so hard that the latter, an aged general, fell off the platform. Another, at the height of a military mutiny, carried a submachine gun to the session hall. Debating too heatedly, two nearly came to blows. But the vast majority behaved.

Unlike in Taiwan or Korea, Filipino national politicians never brawled – until now perhaps.

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Personal stakes are high in BBM versus Rody Duterte.

VP Sara supposedly drew first blood in plotting Romualdez’s ouster by Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Romualdez in turn removed Sara’s P650-million confidential-intelligence funds for 2024 as VP and education head.

Congressmen then caused the suspension of Sonshine Media Network International, where Rody Duterte cusses the administration. Rep. Paolo’s Davao City district allotment for 2024 was slashed from P1.919 billion to P1.024 billion, or P895 million less.

Senator Imee Marcos, BBM’s sister, is on Sara and Arroyo’s side. She accused Romualdez and First Lady Liza of masterminding the people’s initiative to fast-break from presidential to unitary-parliament form. Romualdez purportedly will be prime minister, with BBM as honorary president.

A switch to parliamentary will foil Rody Duterte’s 2025 senatorial plan. Also VP Sara’s 2028 presidential ambition.

But constitutional change via people’s initiative is now dead. Comelec can’t entertain it for lack of implementing rules. Good for the Dutertes.

Still, talk is that admin sources have given International Criminal Court investigators evidence of Rody Duterte’s deadly war on drugs. If charged with crimes against humanity, an international warrant can be issued for his arrest by lawmen or bounty hunters.

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Rody Duterte upped the ante by inciting Mindanao separation. Longtime ally Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez is gathering signatures for it.

Prospects for Mindanao independence are dim. Majority of Filipinos there, and certainly in Luzon and the Visayas, will oppose dismemberment of the Republic.

But mere talk of secession can reignite hatreds. Tens of thousands of Moros, Lumad tribe folk, Ilaga homesteaders, communist rebels and soldiers had died in 40 war years. Families are still hurting from loss of loved ones, land, businesses, homes and hopes.

Division at the national level and in Mindanao falls right into China’s agenda. Using Filipino political lackeys, Beijing’s communist rulers can repeat history.

In the 1980s-1990s, Malaysia agitated Moro separatists. Second-generation rebels volunteered as jihadists in Afghanistan, then returned as terrorist bombers and kidnappers. Non-stop fighting distracted Manila from asserting its claim over Sabah, historically part of the Sulu Sultanate.

An inflamed Mindanao will force the central government to redeploy infantry men, tanks, artillery and combat helicopters there. That will derail naval and air force modernization to repel Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea.

Resurgence of violence in Mindanao would mean reallotting already meager funds for refugees and reconstruction. To think that Marawi City, razed by terrorists on Duterte’s 10th month in office, remained un-rebuilt until he stepped down five years later.

Squabbling among Malacañang, the Senate and the House of Reps will weaken the center. A divided government will be unable to stop Beijing’s island and offshore petroleum grabbing. Already, a China state firm is cyber-sabotaging electronics of the Philippine Coast Guard, the information-communication technology department and BBM’s website no less.

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Love for children is the greatest of all. A pre-Valentine concert will raise funds for the Children’s First 1,000 Days Coalition. Objective: drum up awareness of mother and child nutrition to avert stunting, underweight and delayed brain development that result in poor academics.

A concert on Feb. 9 at The Manila Hotel Tent City will feature former press secretary Atty. Mike Toledo, former executive secretary Atty. Salvador Medialdea and the hotel’s president and former senator Joey Lina, among others.

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