It is significant to note that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. chose Indonesia as his first entry to the world stage first week of September.
Indonesia is a member of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It is a tradition among Philippine presidents to visit a neighboring ASEAN country first before he or she steps to the international stage.
“The Indonesia trip, I think, will be on Sept. 5, “ a source from the DFA said.
Amidst the preparations for the June 30 inauguration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr as the 17th president of the Philippines, I’m still dreadfully in awe of the thoroughness of the brainwashing operations that the Marcos family undertook to achieve their rehabilitation in less than four decades.
Historian and political analyst Manuel L. Quezon III shared in a talk with VERA Files how meticulous the rehabilitation process was. We all blame social media which the Marcoses have mastered but Quezon said their analog or non-digital work was as amazing.
“Yung favorite example ko yung mga ginawang writing exercise book na pinamimigay sa mga Grade 2 or Grade 3 ba yun so di ba kokopyahin mo yung sentence para matuto ka magsulat at ang mga example na kokopyahin ng mga bata ‘Ferdinand Marcos was the greatest president ever’ or ‘ no one loved the Philippines more than Ferdinand Marcos.’ Ganung klaseng brainwashing. Di ba analog yun libro.”
(My favorite example is the writing exercise they did for Grade 2 or Grade 3, where you copy a sentence for you to learn how to write and the examples that the children copies was “Ferdinand Marcos was the greatest president ever” or “No one loved the Philippines more than Ferdinand Marcos.” That’s the kind of brainwashing. Book are analog, aren’t they.)
Latest election surveys showed that if elections were held today, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. would be the 17th president of the Republic of the Philippines.
It’s a nightmare in the making for those who have experienced the horrors of martial law and those who know how democracy was distorted and crushed during the Marcos authoritarian regime. Will the 50th year of the declaration of martial law on Sept. 21, 2022 be declared a national holiday by the Philippine president by then, the son and namesake of the man who signed Proclamation 1081 two days prior to its announcement, asked JB Baylon, columnist of Malaya Business Insight and VERA Files.
Pulse Asia’s December 2021 nationwide survey showed Marcos Jr. was the choice of 53% of Filipinos if elections were held now. Other candidates trail behind, with Leni Robredo, the political opposition’s muse, as the choice of 20% of the respondents; Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, 8%; boxing legend and Sen. Manny Pacquiao, 8%; and, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, 6%.
Never has a candidate in the post-1986 people power revolution elections reached that high number consistently in pre-election surveys. Not even Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, who was catapulted into the 2010 presidential race by the massive public sympathy over his mother’s death a few months earlier. He led in all the poll surveys at 40-plus percent, never reaching 50%.
Fake news is the scourge of the social media-addicted society.
Fake news is defined by Collins Dictionary as “false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting.”
It’s also being used to discredit anything that one disdains. That’s why you hear the likes of Presidents Donald Trump and Rodrigo Duterte, known sources of fake news, accusing legitimate news organizations as peddlers of fake news.
VERA Files, which has been fact-checking since the 2016 election campaign and is one of Facebook’s third party fact-checker in the country, has come out with an analysis who benefits most from the proliferation of fake news.
It’s easy to believe that President Duterte is tired and weary.He is 73 years old and not the healthiest person on earth. The two years as chief executive of the country showed that he does not have what it takes to be a national leader.
But he will not resign. For the simple reason that he has to make sure that he doesn’t end up in jail for all the crimes that he would be charged with once he is out of power.
That’s why he wants to make sure that his successor is someone who will protect him. And that’s former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos or Sen. Francis Escudero for him.
“Pinatawag siya (he was asked to come),” the source said.
That is not surprising because the Marcos family has close ties with the Manalo family (The late Felix Manalo founded the INC) since the powerful days of the Marcoses in the 1960’s. In all the elections where Ferdinand Marcos was a candidate, the INC supported him.
In fact in the 1986 snap election, when the INC membership was deeply divided between the beleaguered Marcos and the popular Corazon Aquino, Eraño Manalo, then the executive minister of the church, stuck with Marcos.
The decision to go for Bongbong Marcos was not difficult for the INC leadership because aside from the family friendship, Marcos is leading the vice presidential race. Winnability is a major factor in the decision of the INC who to endorse.
In a close contest, which is what the May 9 elections is turning out to be, the INC vote is crucial.
Of the eight presidential candidates that the Commission on Elections approved to be listed in the ballots for the May 9, 2016 elections, two are facing disqualification cases: Grace Poe and Rodrigo Duterte.
The eight names that Comelec said would be in the ballots are: Jojo Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA); Miriam Defensor Santiago of the People’s Reform Party (PRP); Rody Duterte of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban); Mel Mendoza of Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP); Grace Poe, independent;Mar Roxas of Daang Matuwid Liberal Party (LP); Roy Señeres of Partido ng Mangagawa at Magsasaka Workers (WPPPMM); and Dante Valencia,independent.
Printing of the ballots will start on Feb. 1 although Senate President Franklin Drilon, an LP stalwart, is asking the poll body to delay it and wait for the resolution of the disqualification cases being heard by the Supreme Court.
Updated Oct. 24,2015
Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. is the biggest gainer among those who filed their certificates of candidacy last week, placing second in the vice-presidential race that has always been dominated by Chiz Escudero, running mate of presidential candidate Grace Poe, results of the survey conducted by the Magdalo group four days after the Commission on Elections closed the filing of certificates of candidacies for the 2016 elections last Oct. 16.
The survey, conducted on Oct 20 through 23, also showed Poe increasing her lead over her rivals in the presidential race with Jojo Binay of United Nationalist Alliance still running second.
The results:
Candidates for President:
Grace Poe, 43%; Jejomar Binay, 26%; Mar Roxas, 17%; Miriam D. Santiago, 11%
Candidates for Vice President: Chiz Escudero,37%; Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr, 24%; Alan Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV , both with 11%; Leni Robredo, 9%; Gringo Honasan, 7%.
Ang dalawang batas ay ideya ng mga kongresista na sina Arcadio H. Garriceta, Ronald M. Cosalan, Jerry P. Treñas, Arthur R. Defensor Jr., Neil C. Tiupas, Oscar “Richard” S. Garin Jr., atd Hernan G. Biron Jr. na nakasaad sa House Bills HB 4400 at HB 4398.
Nakasaad sa HB4400 na ipapangalan kay dating Pangulong Cory Aquino ang apat na lane na circumferential road simula sa kanto ng Iloilo-Dumangas Coastal Road sa Balabago, Jaro District, Iloilo City, papunta sa Buhang, Jaro, Tacas, Jaro at UngKa II, Pavia hanggang sa Mandurriao District, Iloilo City-Pavia-San Miguel . Aabot ang kalsada sa malapit Arevalo District sa Iloilo-Antique Road . Magiging “President Cory C. Aquino Avenue” ang kalsada.
If Aquino thinks that Marcos’ dictatorship nullified the latter’s two-term presidency and disqualified him for a state burial, he is entitled to that opinion.
Since Aquino is the president now, his decision will be followed in political matters, which the Marcos burial issue, has become.
At the forum hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines last Wednesday, Aquino announced his decision to ignore the recommendation of Vice President Binay whom he had tasked to study the issue that his three predecessors – Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada, and Gloria Arroyo, did not want to handle.
Aquino cited the many victims of Marcos’ martial law that includes his father, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.