Count me among the many Filipinos who wish President Marcos Jr.’s plans for post-pandemic economic recovery to jump out of his state of the nation address (SONA) script and become a reality.
His supporters have warned many of us through social media to ditch the negativity.
So, be like COVID – rising 16 percent in positivity rate in Metro Manila over the past week.
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The President’s first cousin, Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin Romualdez, is elected Speaker of the 19th Congress and there’s no surprise there.
Marcos’s son, Ilocos Norte 1st District Rep. Sandro Marcos, makes it as senior deputy majority leader in his freshman year in Congress. And Speaker Romualdez’s wife, Tingog party-list Rep. Yedda Romualdez, chairs the House Committee on Accounts which, of course, manages the budget.
So far, all seems to be working according to the Marcos administration’s plan. Stay positive!
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During his SONA, Marcos Jr. kept waxing his campaign-time “unity” call across political fronts.
His elder sister, though, is a tad more realistic and won’t take any of that rhetoric regarding agricultural smuggling. “It’s time to be mad,” Sen. Imee Marcos says and challenges her brother – the President, who is also acting Agriculture Secretary – to go after the smugglers and their protectors in government.
I don’t know about BBM, but I’m not one to argue with my “ate.”
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In fact, it seems cracks of disunity are already showing this early in the BBM administration, whose electoral campaign was hinged on the call for “unity.”
Recent rumors, for example, that Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez had resigned seemed to have been fired from inside the camp of Marcos supporters.
This set him up for one of the most ridiculous quotes Rodriguez had to dish out in the rarest of moments an Executive Secretary had to face the Malacanang Press Corps: “I’m still here.”
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Magsasaka partylist Rep. Argel Cabatbat, one of the lawmakers who exposed vegetable smuggling in the last Congress, believes Rodriguez might have drawn heat from disgruntled pro-BBM politicians jockeying for “juicy appointments” but remain empty-handed.
Cabatbat claims some of the agriculture smugglers’ highly placed contacts may be among these leeches infiltrating the Marcos circle, and it is ES Rodriguez’s challenging job to weed them out.
Perhaps, that’s why some make him out to be the mystery “100-Million-Peso Man” – because he’s actually a hard case.
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Meanwhile, here’s one lawmaker trying so hard to be relevant – Negros Oriental 3rd District Rep. Arnolfo Teves, Jr. This funnyman who wanted to rename NAIA to Ferdinand Marcos International Airport, now wants to pass his House Bill 611 or Anti-Ghosting Bill – which seeks to outlaw “ghosting.”
Essentially, he wants a person who completely severs ties and communication with another person to be punished for inflicting “emotional pain.”
Now, I’m certain I’ve seen a person who has severed ties with his brain.
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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View. Read current and past issues of this column at https://www.thephilbiznews.com