Joke and Dagger

Title: Are You Ready?

Are you ready for a Marcos presidency?

Apparently the self-proclaimed “real Vice President” Boingboing Marcos believes he is.

Of course he’s wrong in both what he proclaims and what he believes, reality never being a strong
suit of the Marcoses in general. But you have to admire the audacity of Boingboing to not only claim
victory in his electoral protest against the actual real Vice President Leni Robredo, but to claim
succession from Duterte the Grey.

Oh apologies, did I say “admire?” I meant “revile.”

Boingboing’s bold statement comes hot off the heels of the recent announcement of Associate Justice
Teresita De Castro’s appointment as Chea - I mean Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Curiously,
Justice De Castro (who has yet to assume the post of Chief Justice at the time of this writing; hindi ako
advanced mag-isip) has nothing to do with Marcos or his electoral protest, beyond her being a
member of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal. Does Marcos believe that Justice De Castro’s
assumption of the Chief Justice post guarantee the grant of his electoral protest?

If I were Justice De Castro, I’d be thoroughly insulted. It is bad enough that the Internet mercilessly
criticizes Justice De Castro for benefiting from her own involvement in the ouster of former Chief
Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno via an unprecedented quo warranto petition. But for Marcos to
unabashedly imply any partiality on the part of Justice De Castro in the electoral protest pending
before the PET? Marcos ought to be declared in contempt for his statements.

The Marcoses should also be declared in contempt for being generally contemptible, but that’s a
whole other column article.

But let’s play devil’s advocate for a few moments. What if Marcos’ words come true? What if, by
some stroke of judicial hat-trickery, Marcos wins his electoral protest?

Without a doubt, President and Lich King Rodrigo Duterte will step down as President. After all,
Duterte is Dictator Marcos No. 1 fanboy, and can’t wait to pay homage to his idol by installing the late
strongman’s only son as President.

So what would a Boingboing Marcos presidency look like? Consider the following:

1. Boingboing’s electoral protest has been light on facts and legal argumentation, while being heavy
on propaganda.

2. Boingboing has repeatedly downplayed the atrocities committed by his father’s regime, and has
repeatedly made ridiculous claims about how great Martial Law was for the Philippines, despite all the
evidence to the contrary.

3. Boingboing is persistently absent from public view, choosing instead to let shady characters and
anonymous internet trolls do his talking for him.

In other words: a Boingboing Marcos presidency would probably be a Duterte Presidency Zero: all of
the bad flavor, and none of the legitimacy.

The sad part about all this is that human beings with principles and consciences aside, Filipinos would
actually be okay with another Marcos presidency, because who wouldn’t like being rewarded for
kissing Marcos’ rear end? Already we can see the sycophants and the trapos positioning themselves
to be indispensable, or at least useful, to the New New Republic. Already we can see the loyalists and
hangers-on, and even the enterprising business people, salivating at the prospects a Marcos
presidency would bring.

It’s an atrocious remix of the 1986 snap elections all over again.Only this time, the Marcoses are
looking to wrong the rights of history, and this time come out on top.

Are you ready?