Destroy them before they destroy you

By Alex P. Vidal

“The essence of leadership is essentially taking the responsibility of trying to interpret the future to the present.” – Paul Keating, former Prime Minister of Australia

WE still believe Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. wanted to become president primarily to save, rehabilitate and restore the reputation of the Marcos family severely mangled after the 1986 EDSA Revolution.

Marcos became the most hated family thereafter with Marcos Sr. and former First Lady Imelda Marcos respectively landing in the Guinness Book of Records for the “greatest robbery in government” and “largest shoe collection (estimated as high as 3,000).”

This was painfully horrendous and nightmarish for the grandchildren and other Marcoses who have nothing to do whatsoever with the couple’s hegemony.

Mr. Marcos Jr. did become president in 2022.

His prayers—particularly the prayers of the Marcos matriarch Imeldific—must have been answered.

If vindication and exculpation for the infamous family were stone-carved on his mind after being elected president, would Mr. Marcos Jr. be so excited to immediately think of doing something dreadful like stealing billions of pesos in only two years of a six-year term that would totally destroy that mission statement?

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If it is true that his parents or family for that matter had illegally amassed an estimated US$5 to US$10 billion during the Marcos father’s 20 years of dictatorship, would that wealth instantly evaporate soon that the Marcos son “needed” to pocket an “additional” P65 billion (the amount flood control project scandal poster boy Zaldy Co had alleged to have gone to Marcos Jr.’s pocket in 2024) at the risk of being caught with his hands literally in the cookie jar?

Logic tells us he shouldn’t. It’s not impossible, but circumstances and rationality tell us he might not (even attempt to think of doing it).

What kind of president so stupid and idiotic to allow a sitting congressman like Zaldy Co to deliver bags containing cash amounting to billions of pesos to the sitting president’s resident (for sure not in Malacanang) in this age of CCTV, TikTok, Wi Fi, among other satellite monitoring systems where every movement of human beings and animals is monitored and seen skin deep by Big Brother Technology?

So many loopholes; a hogwash; downright injudicious.

And many people, including some professionals (unbelievable), swallowed hook, line, and sinker the claim of the fabulist warbler who is, based on stockpiles of evidence, accused of enriching himself using his influence and power as a former partylist solon through flood control projects?

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Mr. Marcos Jr., we are starting to believe, may be a weak leader, but may not be corrupt per se.

He is “weak” because he appears to be slow in clipping the wings of malcontents, the bedazzling but morally misfits trying to destabilize and topple his administration.

For instance, those who fabricated and maliciously circulated the “bangag” (high on illegal drugs) video that gave impetus to accusations he and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos are drug users two years ago are still scot-free and continued to ridicule the president and undermine his authority in the social media.

Why weren’t they prosecuted and placed behind bars until now boggles the mind.

Mr. Marcos Jr. has also allowed corrupt Chavit Singson and his subalterns in the destabilization department to get away with murder after the bloody September 21, 2025 uprising that nearly killed scores of violent rascals who joined the “Trillion Peso March.”

And the recalcitrant police and military generals—retired and active—who have been agitating to replace him and pave the way for restoration of the equally corrupt Vice President Sara Duterte as new president.

Why weren’t they court-marshaled (for the active ones)? What is this administration waiting for?

And now we have the boisterous Iglesia Ni Kristo three-day protest juggernauts against corruption in government. What if the saboteurs surreptitiously joined the rally and succeed in toppling the government?

Is “weakling” Marcos Jr. waiting for the guillotine to zap his own head before he moves to destroy his enemies?

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)