Political noise and its more serious impact

PHILIPPINES - In Brief 29 Nov 2024 by Diwa Guinigundo

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It started with unity, and it might as well end up in one single stroke to rock the Philippine economy. The political situation in the Philippines seems to be getting more explosive from an economic standpoint. Indeed, the unity team of President Bongbong Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte was rather tenuous right from the start. Theirs was a political marriage, a partnership of convenience. Without any of what each of these top leaders would refer to as solid north, or solid south, they grabbed nothing but a straw against then Vice-President Leni Robredo. Her popularity swelled, and the crowds attending her political campaigns and miting de avance were in the hundreds of thousands each time. And just like marriages not made in heaven, the union did not even reach the so-called "seven-year itch", that point when either of the two partners, or both, starts looking for something or someone new. First, it was the extra-judicial killing associated with the drug war of then President Rodrigo Duterte, the vice president’s father. Duterte himself during congressional hearings unwittingly admitted there was a price paid for each killing associated with drug push or drug use. This should be enough fodder for the International Criminal Court to pursue the case. If the Palace decides to cooperate with the ICC, or rejoins the ICC, legal experts believe the former President could be prosecuted and detained. Former Senator Antonio Trillanes went as far as saying Duterte could be looking for life term. What made matters worse is the latest call of the former President for the military to take action against what he called “fractured governance” of the Marcos Administration. Clear...