A threat looms above us all.
It’s the threat that has revised the past to fit their narrative and has invalidated the accounts of their atrocities. It walks, hands stained with red, with the blood of the lives of people whose rights they’ve taken away on the soles of their feet.
The Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. – Sara Duterte tandem has climbed their way to the political ladder at the cost of the lives of the Filipino people. With no achievements, no balls to attend debates, and no solid platforms, these two candidates ride on nothing else but their surnames.
Their call for unity makes everything so much clearer — a brand of unity designed and peddled primarily for the interests of their own.
After all, two notorious families coming together to “make the Philippines great again”, is unity isn’t it?
The Marcos family which has a history of dictatorship, human rights abuses, graft, corruption, plunder, tax evasion, has Bongbong Marcos gunning for presidency. Meanwhile, the Dutertes infamous for their murderous drug war that has killed thousands of people all over the country and whose political rule thrives on violence and fascism, has Sara Duterte aiming for the second-highest position on the land.
Birds of the same feather indeed flock together.
With this tandem’s campaign strengthened by disinformation, and fuelled by red-tagging sprees, it gets the people wondering, ano ba talaga ang totoo?
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
On October 22, 2021, an estimate of 200 Filipino students and alumni of Oxford University addressed the “wrong information” about the former senator’s educational qualifications that have been circulating online. Atty. Vic Rodriguez, Marcos Jr.’s Chief of Staff, stated that he [Marcos Jr.] has always been honest with his Oxford education.
This has been proven to be false as Marcos Jr. himself inaccurately attested his credentials in at least 3 instances.
In a report last October 23, the Marcos camp stated that Marcos, Jr. has never misrepresented his Oxford education and that anyone who wishes to can challenge this claim with Oxford themselves.
According to VeraFiles, in a fact-check email from Oxford last October 27, Marcos Jr. studied at the University of Oxford in 1975, taking up BA Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. University records also indicate that the former senator was not able to complete his degree and was rather awarded a “special diploma” in 1978.
When asked if he was able to attain a degree in an interview with Rappler in 2015, Marcos Jr. replied with: “I suppose — I got my diploma eh.”
In January 2016, during an interview with DZRH, he was asked if a special diploma was equal to a bachelor’s degree in Oxford.
He answered: “I suppose there are differences but ang ending no’n, is that it’s a bachelor’s degree.
Oxford then clarified in another fact check message to VeraFiles that the special diploma awarded to the former senator was not a “full graduate diploma”. The message read:
“The Special Diploma, which the University no longer offers, was open to both undergraduates and graduates. Non-University members could also read for it under certain circumstances. There is no recorded link between the BA (in Philosophy, Politics and Economics) and the Special Diploma, and the Special Diploma was not a full graduate Diploma.”
PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGIC BASELINES LAW
On his website, Marcos, Jr. claimed that he authored a number of landmark laws such as the Philippine Archipelagic Baselines Law (RA 9522).
The said law was enacted on March 10, 2009, and a consolidation of Senate Bill 2699 and House Bill 3216.
It was Representative Antonio Cuenco of Cebu City who filed House Bill 3216 and senators Antonio Trillanes IV, Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Eduardo Angara, Rodolfo Biazon, Juan Ponce Enrile, and Miriam Defensor-Santiago who authored Senate Bill 2699.
The Marcos who authored a version of the Baselines Bill, House Bill 214, was Imee Marcos who authored it in 2004 during the 13th Congress.
Bongbong Marcos had nothing to do with any of the bills relating to baselines. According to UP law professor and maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal, he was not even present at the Bicameral Conference Committee meeting that harmonized the two versions.
INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE (IRRI)
To pay tribute to his dictator father, Bongbong released a vlog on September 11, 2021 claiming: “Unang-una ay kailangan may makakain ang tao dahil dito ay kanyang [Ferdinand Marcos Sr.] binuo ‘yung IRRI, International Rice Research Institute.”
The truth of the matter is that the IRRI was founded by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. Their website stated that the IRRI was the “first and flagship example of a far-reaching RF-inspired network of research centers.”
Marcos Sr. was not yet the president when the IRRI was established in 1960. He only became president five years later.
BANGUI BAY WIND FARM
A Facebook account named “Marcos Legacy” claimed in a post that the Bangui Bay Wind Farm in Bangui, Ilocos Norte was a project of Marcos Jr. last September 8, 2021.
“That’s just one more thing, what if he becomes president? A Bongbong Marcos can do more than that,” stated the post.
It immediately went viral and was reposted by many other Marcos support pages. However, this claim is false.
The Bangui Bay Wind Farm was a project of NorthWind Power Development Corporation (NDPC) that was based on a wind mapping study conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the United States in 1996.
Although he supported and approved the windmill project as a governor, he did not start nor fund these projects.
He even confirmed that this was not the Ilocos Norte government’s project in an interview with ANC in 2010 when he was still gunning for a position in the Senate.
“It’s a private commercial enterprise,” he stated.
CLEARED DAVAO DEBT
Incumbent mayor of Davao City and vice-presidential aspirant Sara Duterte-Carpio boasted in the UniTeam Laguna campaign rally that by the end of her term as mayor in June 2022, Davao City will be cleared of the P1 billion debt she inherited as mayor.
“Pagbaba ko po ngayong Hunyo 2022, zero, wala na pong utang ang aming siyudad. Wala pong mamanahing utang ng gobyerno ang mga susunod na Dabawenyo,” Duterte-Carpio stated.
She also stated earlier that the city government’s P70 million balance is below the P200 million budget that it annually allocates for debt payments. Since the city government will have no debts left to pay after June 2022, Duterte-Carpio added that the remaining amount can be used for other future programs and initiatives.
However, a salient piece of information was omitted in her speech: her predecessor was her own father and president Rodrigo Duterte, who was seated as Davao City’s mayor from 2013 to 2016.
In the worst possible case that the Marcos-Duterte tandem wins, they will also inherit a P12.09 trillion debt — the Duterte legacy.
DUTERTE’S ICC CASE
In an interview last June 2021, Sara Duterte stated that she would cooperate with the possible investigation of her father’s drug war by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as long as the national government allows it to happen.
She added that the Davao City government would be ready if the investigation pushes through.
However, she insists that the ICC leave Davao out of the drug war investigation.
When told that now-retired ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda saw links between the pre-2016 Davao killings and the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, Sara stated: “I’ve not read that in her statement but just the same whatever the DILG will say, LGU (local government unit) will follow.”
Bensouda requested the pre-trial chamber to allow her to investigate the Davao killings and the war on drugs from 2011 to 2016. This specific time period included years when Sara was part of the Davao City government. She was the city mayor from 2011 to 2013 while her father was the vice-mayor, followed by her father’s terms from 2013-2016.
She then ran for mayor again and won in 2016.
According to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the total number of killings under the drug war climbed to 6,191 between July 1, 2016, and August 31, 2021. A total of 307,521 arrests were also made during the same time period.
Yet, human rights groups point out that the killings may be at an estimate of around 30,000.
When Sara Duterte was asked if she will continue her father’s controversial war on drugs operation, she responded with: “Strengthen pa ng ating bansa, ipa-strengthen yung law enforcement ng ating bansa – hindi lang po sa kontra droga, kontra terrorism, kontra criminality lahat po yon, anti-insurgency lahat po yon. Dahil ang gusto po ng lahat ay mapayapang pamumuhay hindi lang po dito sa ating bansa but sa buong mundo.”
She did not elaborate on how she will “strengthen law enforcement” and did not entertain any follow-up questions.
Following Duterte-Carpio’s claims of her father’s administration’s anti-drug operations, anti-crime and counter-insurgency efforts, human rights alliance Karapatan reported a total of 437 cases of non drug-related EJKs, and over 500,000 cases of intimidation, harassment, and threats.
Stated above are only some of the lies and absurdities the dictator family has spewed, and maligned the truth behind the countless lives killed, and violated of their rights. These present a glaring image of the “unity” brandished by the thief-dictator tandem — a unity of thieves born out of clear disinformation and historical revisionism.
These are dangerous lies and claims constantly needed to be fact-checked. It gives a glimpse of the kind of government their families ran and would continue if elected — one that fools and kills the Filipinos at the expense of their personal interests.
Not only is this tandem a threat to Philippine democracy, but it also threatens the sanctity of the constitution and the dignity of the nation. It poses a grave danger to the rights of the Filipino people as these people are known to have histories of human rights abuses, corruption, and crimes.
It is imperative that we prevent the Marcos-Duterte alliance from maintaining their power. We must forge genuine unities to collectively hinder a Duterte extension and a Marcos restoration.
The true unity – and all-encompassing power – lies within the people who will collectively stand against and resist the looming threat of another 6 years under a self-serving and abusive regime.
To the thieves and the murderers, we say no more.
#NoToMarcosDuterte2022
Featured image courtesy of Bongbong Marcos Facebook page
