The Marcos Jr. administration is repeating the errors of the Marcos Sr. martial law regime by making practically everything illegal. Thus, seeking redress of grievances through marches and pickets is no longer an exercise of democratic rights but an “illegal” act. Celebrating Bonifacio Day “without permission” is also an “illegal” act that calls for suppression. Staging strikes to protest unfair labor practices, from low wages to bad working conditions, may also qualify as an “illegal” act that subverts “industrial peace.”
The government has just proven itself as the spawn of Marcos Sr. martial law after it added 13 leaders of progressive organizations, including those running for Senate seats under the Makabayan Coalition, to the list of people accused of illegal assembly on Nov. 30, 2024, Bonifacio Day. The newly-accused leaders are: Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Secretary General Jerome Adonis; Makabayan President Liza Maza; ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro; Gabriela Partylist Rep. Arlene Brosas; Piston President Mody Floranda; Kadamay Secretary General Mimi Doringo; Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas Chairperson Danilo Ramos; Pamalakaya Vice Chairperson Ronnel Arambulo; Sandugo Co-Chairperson Amirah Lidasan, and; Filipino Nurses United Secretary General Alyn Andamo. Also listed are former Bayan Muna Partylist Rep. Ferdie Gaite, ACT Teachers Chairperson Vladimer Quetua and Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) Secretary General Cristy Donguines.
Earlier charged were KMU Chairperson Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog and Nilo Mortifero of Bayan Muna. The charges directly affront the Constitutionally guaranteed rights to freely assemble and seek redress of grievances. Surely, there is nothing illegal in demanding higher wages and seeking an end to union busting, harassment, and unfair labor practices. Moreover, a call to investigate corruption at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) the Office of the President (OP) and the insertions that corrupt the annual appropriations bill cannot qualify as impeding traffic, disrupting peace and order, and sedition, a crime created by the Americans to suppress nationalist sentiments.
Yet, wasting P612.5 million in people’s money and mislabeling disbursements as the judicious use of Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIFs) by Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio is not “illegal” and for which she deserves not to be slapped with impeachment complaints. The payoffs to Department of Education (DepEd) officials by Sara, the fixing of billion-peso DepEd projects, the “rewards” for dubious informers, special agents, snitches, and spooks that cost the republic scores of millions of pesos are likewise not illegal, and so were the payments for the purchased or leased 13 satellite offices and three extension offices valued at hundreds of millions of pesos.
The payment of more than P15 million for “Youth Leadership Summits” was shown to be spurious but Duterte Jr. and her gang passed it off as sponsored by the DepEd, but per Marcos Jr.’s reckoning, it may be “illegal” but throwing the books at Sara would “divide” the country, justice be damned. This horrible formulation is meant to coddle Sara, deodorize her graft-ridden operations and reward her for highway robbery. This kind of thinking gives Sara and the rest of the Duterte family a pass for their corruption in Davao City, where they spent P2.37 billion in CIFs like there’s no tomorrow. It seems to the people at large that the Marcoses, Romualdezes and the Dutertes belong to a big extended family.
The insertion of P289 billion into the proposed 2025 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) without the department knowing it may look like juvenile mischief to Malacanang when it was exposed, but to the workers, farmers, government employees who will have to pay additional SSS contributions, PhilHealth premiums and the slew of direct and indirect taxes, it is not japes. Filipinos pay through the nose to gift the bicameral conference committee (BCC) with extra legislative powers to add appropriations that were never approved in the plenary.
Not only is it unconstitutional; it is unethical and illegal. Caught with their fingers in the cookie jar, Marcos Jr. also came to his cousin’s rescue as line items were “vetoed,” a total of P194 billion was deleted and the assailed appropriations were simply juggled to “educational institutions” like the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) and military schools. The people cannot be fooled by the Palace skit. The more the budget changed, the more it looked the same.
Similarly, it may not be illegal for the House of Representatives and the Senate to gift themselves with redundant “social justice” doleouts like the Ayuda Para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP), a P5,000 one-time “gift” to minimum wage earners like the 17,000 mall workers who got a windfall in Nov. 2024 and nothing more. Then, there are other “social justice” doleouts managed by favored partylists that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) just legitimized. For saying the fraudulent actions of ACT-CIS Rep. Erwin Tulfo in masquerading as a US citizen and renewing his US passport despite being born in Tacloban do not nullify his candidacy for the Senate. The law has gone to pot; it has suddenly become unlawful.
