“Bagong Pilipinas, Bagong Mukha!”, (trans: New Philippines, New Face)  the battle cry of the 2022 Marcos-Duterte campaign jingle echoed throughout the nation as the resurging Marcoses and the reigning Dutertes promised something ‘new’. Except, that the ‘new’ narrative has always been used in every campaign since Marcos Sr. What exactly is new? What do we want to change from? Do we really need that change? 

The Uniteam: A Makeshift Alliance

That something ‘new’ finally came when the two dynasties won by landslide. But it’s not the kind of ‘new’ you’d expect. What was marketed as a “unity” team was actually a makeshift alliance for electoral purposes. And now that they’ve won, the alliance is turning on each other. The personal goals of these two dynasties slowly overlapped and they found themselves in a tug-of-war for power over the country. Normally, this would be the perfect time for civil society groups and opposition forces to consolidate, especially since there is the midterm elections next year. An internally weakened administration may have difficulty maintaining their electoral seats, but with the essential annihilation of the opposition in 2022, there hasn’t been much progress on this end. This tug-of-war for power is dangerous because the two dynasties have control over the state apparatus and each blow delivered in their war is a chunk taken from our country’s power and resources. 

Origins and the Growing Rifts

Let’s rewind to the 2016 elections when the Marcos-Duterte alliance first formed. In the documentary film, The Kingmaker by Laura Greenfield, it was revealed that Rodrigo Duterte, who was formerly a political outsider, was supported by the Marcoses to provide a backdoor, or to the very least, a direct link for power to the presidency. Duterte was supposed to step down for whatever reason had Marcos Jr. won the vice presidency. However, Marcos Jr. was defeated by former VP Robredo twice (in the elections and in the recounts), which blocked their backdoor attempt to the presidency. Duterte, who was supposed to be a means to an end, suddenly became the center of power. Quickly, he elevated his allies from the South and filled administrative and elective positions with his colleagues and friends. He also steered the Philippines towards a pro-China foreign policy and launched the bloody war on drugs which killed thousands. His exit in office was lathered with mixed signals with him expressing disgust over Marcos Jr.’s candidacy and even revealing the latter to be a drug user, to eventually supporting him. With Sara Duterte on Marcos Jr. ‘s slate as his running mate, the unstoppable UniTeam found its way to the two highest posts in the land. However, over the past years, we’ve seen the rift between the two clans grow wider, and it manifests in policy outcomes. Ultimately, we’ve seen that the fateful alliance is nothing but an electoral strategy, more than a tool for political change.

Inconsistencies on foreign policy emerged as Rodrigo Duterte’s pro-China advances were countered by Marcos Jr. ‘s pro-West policy. Recent developments in the South China Sea disputes also emerged as claims of the Philippines’ violation of Duterte’s gentleman’s agreement with Beijing “justified” the recent water cannon attacks on Filipinos. On media concerns, House Speaker Romualdez seems to side against the Dutertes on the matter of the closure of SMNI. And while Marcos Jr. himself reaffirms that the Philippines is not under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, there has been growing movements in Congress about cooperating with the ICC to prosecute Duterte. Very recently as well, the two dynasties seem to be sitting at the opposite ends of the table on the matter of constitutional amendments. The Marcos-Romualdez backed economic charter change resolutions, which are pushing through with tremendous speed, sits on one end, while the Dutertes are against the resolution, as evident with Paolo Duterte’s ‘no’ vote on the said resolution. This mismatch between policy decisions of the supposedly “united” administration has dangerous implications on Philippine democracy. 

Democracy in Danger

The state’s power is meant to be used to protect the people and uphold peace. It was never meant to be capitalized by any singular politician nor family to further their personal vendettas and to be used as a weapon for self-defense. But in this internal conflict between the very members of the UniTeam, political power is weaponized. Each blow they deliver, they consume the state’s resources and undermine the country’s democratic process. The welfare of the people is swept to the sides and the focus turns into whoever can hold on to power the longest and the strongest. Their war depletes the country’s resources and puts us in the middle of the firefight between two superpowers.

Now is the time, more than ever, for the people to protect our democracy. Civil society groups and the liberal democratic opposition should stand for democracy because if they don’t, someone else will. And that someone may not be the person we need, but another populist in disguise. It’s time for better campaign tactics that still uphold the essence of democracy and for a revival of the annihilated opposition. We must act now. The midterm elections are next year. We must consolidate a working challenge to the administration candidates and vote their henchmen out of office. We have the power within our hands. 

And yes, it’s too big of an ask, and it is practically impossible for an opposition party to be conjured out of thin air. But trying to come up with something and resisting this fiasco is significantly better than not doing anything at all. Resistance, even weak, is still resistance, and when millions of hands join the fight, we can do better than just give up. If we do nothing, that’s practically surrendering our democracy into the hands of these tyrants. The good thing is, civil society groups and the academic community are already launching protests and discussions about these matters. Our next step is to consolidate our opposition in elected offices. 

It’s never too late. We have power within our hands. Democracy’s power is derived from the people. Next year’s elections are our best shot at weakening their advances against democracy. We can prove to them that the Filipino people will not falter in the face of tyranny. Their ‘unity’ is tainted with greed, corruption, and hidden agendas. The unity that matters is not the fateful alliance between the two tyrants, but the unity among the Filipino people thirsty for genuine change.                 

*Photo by Avito C. Dalan, “Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte at their proclamation rally in Bulacan”, Philippine News Agency, Public Domain.