If the fight against public works corruption is a race against time, President Bongbong Marcos gives the unmistakable impression that his government will be up to speed to end it, probably once and for all. You may add, friends, foes and family, political or otherwise, will not be spared to do that, to be sure.
The public says, so be it, or amen , even alleluia if he can achieve a difficult objective, meaning politics is such a rarefied field the commitment could also mean political hara kiri.
PBBM’s firm timeline is Christmas, considered the longest festivity in this neck of the woods, conceivably a longer political calendar. The wrong doers will spend Christmas behind bars. He means business short of naming who will be the first victims of his determined action against corrupt leaders or business people in government.
The public is waiting eagerly for PBBM to make good his promise. As if to ramp up his bid to make corrupt people accountable, the Ombudsman also vowed that more will charged, including senators who will be found to be dipping their hands in the cookie jar. There are already candidates known to the public. It’s just a matter of time or formality.
Meantime, PBBM’s political enemies are waiting in the wings for a misstep that will derail, if not frustrate, his journey altogether to end corruption in government. Winning is also tipping the balance on the political calculus that may have triggered a colossal collapse in the nation’s moral equilibrium. It also could mean decisively upending a geopolitical threat where some leaders maybe a part of a conspiracy. There are other collateral issues, just as vital, perhaps even existential.
Which means a linear, tactical approach to dealing with the nation’s malaise may not be enough , not even meeting the objective of finishing 2028 successfully. Nation building is a continuum. His late father,a former dictator who once dreamed a of a new society, must have instilled that vision in him. Every now and then, the son, less than a disciple of Machiavelli, now repeats the idea, nowhere more emphatically than in his state -of- the- nation spiels.
The son may not be as cerebral, the sister senator showing she may have more gray matter and the guts, or so it seems, as a politician. But PBBM is calling the shots. Already in the saddle while the opponent is still on the stirrup, his father is wont to brag. He either calls them or shut up. He is also aware of the political slogan of keeping your enemies close, but your friends, perhaps even kin, closer.
It can be said that he played coy from the get go. He built and nurtured a playbook of awesome political unity that was thought to last. The regime in the remaking even breathed to keep a living monster alive, no matter what, notwithstanding its perceived crimes against the people. The right opportunities came when the other side, as expected, wanted more than it could chew, which is usually normal politics.
Alas, the political appetite shown it went beyond what was normal. There were threats to personal, family safety. There were hints of medical issues as a result of alleged drug use since power became heady for a former dictator family. Of late, n o less than a sibling, a sitting senator, sang the same song of addiction that runs through the family. Time to end the nightmare for the nation, so the drumbeat echoed.
What could be worse than a president who pretended to fight massive corruption but actually was behind all of it? What could be a better political showcase than luggages of billions in cash purportedly delivered to the doorstep of the highest official of the land?It could have ended in a triumphant spin of the wheel except the accuser was 10,000 miles away or so and would not, could not, come home to validate it.
Short of the failure, it would have created another opportunity for a nation to jettison another Marcos government for crime against its people. Waiting in the wings are the enemies– former allies, in fact–of PBBM ready to spring a surprise, perhaps a civilian-military junta. But people know better. Apparently, PBBM and his camp were prepared for it. Besides, others are watching how it will complicate the geopolitical status in the West Philippine Sea.
In fact, without this last important factor, there would have been a real change in the regime. No doubt, PBBM has played its cards well. The other side simply could not show theirs. In other words, it’s a trump card we cannot bet on.
To drive home a point, historically, on the last date a huge rally was staged against corruption, the appeal by a former president for an interim release, against the charge of crime against humanity in the International Criminal Court, was totally junked. Some trolls even tried their luck at fake news by saying the dismissal was reversed.
Before PBBM is able to put corrupt legislators, public works engineers and contractors on Christmas Day, not necessarily in that order, the ICC shall determine if the former president is mentally fit for trial. Either way, the result would be a lost cause politically and morally for any effort for a regime change under PBBM. It’s a cause for optimism in surviving the crucible. The nation may revel in his gift or grit as a leader whose time has really come. And what a time it is.
