First of 3 parts
THERE was no mincing of words. Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, Appointed Son of God (ASOG), on Feb 21, 2024, called for "... President BBM [and First Lady Liza] and Speaker Martin Romualdez to step down from your posts. You are no longer worthy to be our trusted leaders." These echoed Davao Mayor Baste Duterte's demand for BBM to resign in a prayer rally in Davao last January 28. And in an expected ad hominem by the Duterte himself, he described BBM as "basag" (a drug addict)! And an appropriate counter-response by BBM is that it must be the fentanyl drug talking. These displays of uncouth behavior by these personalities reflect deeper roots — just the latest salvoes of two political families attempting to seek control of the political space. This clash of dynasties could be the Philippines' political narrative for the next generation, with implications reaching far beyond the local towards the geopolitical dynamics. (This will be discussed in the second part of this series.)
The intertwining
The Marcos family, an older but discredited dynasty from the North, is out to regain its preeminence established by its patriarch half a century ago when Ferdinand Sr. sought to restructure Philippine society through his martial law regime. They were booted out 38 years ago by the now defunct dynasty that failed to sustain its hold on power but gave birth serendipitously to the current dynasty from the South — the Dutertes — when Cory Aquino appointed the Deegong to the lowly post of Davao City OIC vice mayor. The Cojuangco-Aquino dynasty had no sons and daughters in positions of power, unlike the Marcos and Duterte clans. Both houses have their issues in elective posts: president, senator, governor and congressman for the former, and for the latter, vice president, congressman and mayor, but more importantly, the living founder who manages to retain an 80 percent national approval rating. These families understand only too well the path to dominance and what it takes to get there — the sheer determination to accumulate raw power, wealth and pelf and the distribution of largesse to its allies, blind loyalty only to its own, and destruction of its rivals and perceived enemies.
The next election cycles will determine the ascendancy of either in their respective regions — the Ilocano-Tagalog-Pampangueño North and the Bisaya-Muslim South — with the Philippines' 80 or so political dynasties scrambling all over each other to strike political alliances. Roughly, Metro Manila, Bicol and the Visayas could be fertile battlegrounds. But in every election, political alliances and rivalries are always in flux.
Genesis
The Deegong, possessing a proclivity for authoritarian rulers, always had sympathy for the Marcoses; his father, Vicente, was governor of Davao and was later appointed by the elder President Ferdinand Marcos to head the Department of General Services. After years of the Marcos Sr. cadaver on public display, Duterte allowed him to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. For this, the Marcoses owed the Dutertes big time. But in 2022, daughter Sara, in her naiveté gave in to BBM to run as his vice president instead of vying for the presidency — which she could have won handily then — opening the doors wide open for a Marcos, finalizing its resurgence. Big mistake! As in any political dynasty rivalry, one must eventually dominate. A crack in the UniTeam forged primarily by Senator Imee and Vice President Sara started to appear when Sara's desire to assume a high-profile role in BBM's Cabinet as secretary of defense was not granted. The education department portfolio was a poor substitute. And to add salt to the wound, Sara's VP office was stripped of P500 million and the DepEd of P150 million in confidential intelligence funds (CIF).
'Intelligence funds' are nebulous purposed confidential funds originally for the use of surveillance by police and defense agencies for security purposes. The practice of allocating these funds to civilian agencies and favored local government units (LGU) has skirted the guidelines for disbursements and liquidation of the same as they are exempted from the Commission on Audit's (CoA) standard procedures. More often than not, they are unaudited and may be deemed unconstitutional. These lucrative funds have been used anomalously as campaign funds bloating the personal coffers of powerful politicians, mayors/governors, and agency heads. BBM's own office (OP) was allocated P4.5 billion — half of the P10.64 billion CIF in the 2024 budget.
Her father, the Deegong, who understands the uses of these funds, went ballistic.
A surrogate in a political circus
Both dynasties have surrogates spearheading the fight. On one hand is the powerful speaker of the House who has his eye set on succeeding cousin BBM to the presidency while the Marcos children need to be ripened — Congressman Zandro or Governor Matthew of Ilocos Norte. The speaker, more a Romualdez than a Marcos, has a slim chance against Sara in winning the next presidency. Martin could only become numero uno with a shift from a unitary to a parliamentary system — a pipe dream of Congress' not-so-hidden agenda for a Charter change under the guise of constitutional economic amendments through a people's initiative. And these convoluted amendments/revisions are now opposed by the very proponent of a shift to a parliamentary-federal system — the Deegong who rode to presidential triumph on federalism. Such hypocrisy is however par for the course for the type of politics practiced in this country.
And this is where the ASOG is entangled in the web of political intrigue. A staunch supporter and religious adviser to the former president, his Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), which operates two television networks and owns 17 radio stations all over the country, is a powerful mouthpiece and propaganda arm, shades of the defunct ABS-CBN that Duterte caused to close during his watch. SMNI, with its flagship in Davao but with tentacles all over the country, has been the political mecca where opportunistic politicians of every color, particularly senators and those vying for national office, go on a pilgrimage to seek his endorsement and in return are financially rewarded.
SMNI is something that Romualdez and the Marcoses must silence and eliminate. They don't have an equivalent tool. What better way than to hit the ASOG at his most vulnerable? His messianic delusions and an undisciplined enormous appetite for power, gold and women.
He has been placed by America's FBI on its "Most Wanted List." He is now an internationally marked man facing charges of sex trafficking, cash smuggling, money laundering, and even possible illegal drug trafficking in the US — a fugitive with a warrant of arrest. Internally, Quiboloy is facing an investigation from an obscure Senate committee that is now producing sensational headlines of minors being sexually assaulted and even raped, but the wrong venue for resolving innocence or guilt — just a circus as an overture to the coming elections.
An attempt to consolidate
Thus, what is happening today is an attempt by two political dynasties to lay the groundwork for a political fight for the 2025 mid-term election as a prelude to the control of power for the next presidential elections in 2028. And beyond marks the ascendancy of the next generation from either of the North or South political dynasties. Unless another comes to the fore.
lito.lorenzana@cdpi.asia