WE have a National Security Council (NSC) that is supposed to look after our national security interests. These involve both internal and external issues that require the close personal attention and expertise of our top national leaders. They have to meet and deliberate together and recommend appropriate courses of action to deal with these concerns.<\/p>\r\r
Since the beginning of the Marcos Jr. administration in 2022, we have been confronted with many of these issues but have not seen the council respond.<\/p>\r\r
Now, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has just reorganized the council by expanding its membership to include some purely administrative personnel while removing Vice President Sara Duterte, the latter's father, former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte and former presidents Joseph Ejercito Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, without any warning. It was an unexpected political move that reflects the widening gap between Marcos Jr. and the Duterte father-and-daughter combine who used to be his closest political collaborators. Erap Estrada and Mrs. Arroyo appear to be purely collateral casualties.<\/p>\r\r
The act of removing the Dutertes and the two other former presidents from the NSC is almost reminiscent of the late former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. abolishing the office of vice president in order to remove then-vice president Fernando Lopez from his long-held position. Will it stop there, or is it just the beginning of more punitive action? Does the Dutertes' continued presence in the NSC carry any grave security implications? Do they constitute a threat to the political order? In removing them from the NSC, did BBM solve an existing problem or did he create a new one?<\/p>\r\r
Three impeachment complaints have been filed against Sara as of this date; a fourth is reportedly being prepared by another group. The obvious intent is to make sure that the number of impeachment filers exceeds one-third of the total membership of the House in order to qualify the consolidated complaint before the House Committee on Justice to be transmitted immediately to the Senate for trial without the need for a House debate. Would her continued membership in the NSC affect the chances of the complaints in the House?<\/p>\r\r
Within a few days, if plans do not miscarry, the religious group Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) will launch a planned mass action nationwide against the impeachment complaints that have been filed in the House and the criminal charges of \"crimes against humanity,\" which the House quad committees (on dangerous drugs, public order and safety, human rights and public accounts) have recommended to be filed against former president Duterte in the Department of Justice for the alleged killings in his bloody war on drugs. The planned INC mass action could become the government's biggest problem in the months ahead.<\/p>\r\r
Ironically, Malaca\u00f1ang had lent an unwitting hand in starting the INC protest against Sara's impeachment. Under the Constitution, the president has no role to play in any impeachment proceeding except his own. But he made the unfortunate error of saying, for the record, that Sara's impeachment was \"unnecessary and counterproductive.\" However high-minded his objective in saying this, it was a constitutional error he can no longer unmake. Unhappily for him, the INC seized the opportunity to support his statement for its own ends and began organizing its troops for its intended mass action.<\/p>\r\r
Apparently, the INC saw in the Dutertes' quarrel with Malaca\u00f1ang a winnable cause to support, apart from the fact that it had its own deep grievances against Marcos. Obviously, Marcos had no foreknowing that the INC would pick up Sara's cause and did not expect his Congress allies to go full blast against the Dutertes. But he can no longer withdraw his earlier statement on Sara's impeachment; unless he completely and openly disavows that statement, it will remain on the record, and it is in full support of that statement that the INC has decided to mobilize its own forces to oppose Sara's impeachment.<\/p>\r\r
The trouble is that it has gone beyond all this. It isn't just the INC and the Dutertes on the one hand and Malaca\u00f1ang and Congress on the other that are now involved. Various other groups with their own scores to settle with the government appear to be preparing to throw themselves into the fray if and when push comes to shove.<\/p>\r\r
Among others, a big transport group with all sorts of recriminations against government regulators has begun talking about adding muscle to the INC rallies.<\/p>\r\r
Disgruntled critics of the newly approved 2025 national budget are also threatening to call for \"civil disobedience\" over what one Department of Finance official and some gutsy columnists have denounced in the strongest possible terms.<\/p>\r\r
Some declared opponents of the US' unconstitutional presence in the EDCA sites are talking of the possibility of filing an impeachment complaint against the president himself, even with only a zero chance of success, for allegedly surrendering Philippine sovereignty to the US government.<\/p>\r\r
And last but not least, certain groups in Mindanao are reported to have started recruiting volunteers for \"whatever patriotic action becomes necessary when the time comes.\"<\/p>\r\r
The prospects do not seem very bright this year for BBM's Bagong Pilipinas.<\/p>\r\r
[email protected]<\/p>","article_custom_fields":"{\"\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_keywords\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_description\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_title\":[\"\"],\"sponsored_flag\":[\"\"],\"offer_flag\":[\"off\"],\"featured_article_flag\":[\"\"],\"drupal_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":null,\\\"properties\\\":{\\\"PUBLISHED\\\":0,\\\"PROMOTED\\\":0,\\\"STICKY\\\":0},\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"wp_custom_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"article_tags\":[\"\"],\"show_image\":[\"off\"],\"Disable_Ad\":[\"off\"],\"disable_player\":[\"off\"],\"column\":[\"\"],\"kicker\":[\"\"],\"edel\":[\"\"],\"delu\":[\"\"],\"delt\":[\"Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.\"],\"premium\":[\"off\"],\"Redirect_URL\":[\"\"],\"Registration_required\":[\"off\"],\"background_image\":[\"off\"],\"user_needs\":[\"\"],\"page_number\":\"0\",\"initial_publication\":\"\",\"date_created\":\"2025-01-05 21:39:14\",\"date_modified\":\"2025-01-05 21:40:10\",\"last_modified_user\":\"Mahmoud Morallos\",\"section_color\":\"\",\"target_page\":\"0\",\"cxense_metatags\":null}","cms_type":"live","author_id":33,"section_id":13,"seo_meta_keywords":"A,stormy,year,for,Bagong,Pilipinas?","seo_meta_description":"","seo_meta_title":"A stormy year for Bagong Pilipinas?","publish_time":"2025-01-06 00:12:00","related_articles_ids":"","article_tags":"","sub_section_id":6,"visit_count":480,"sponsored_flag":0,"offer_flag":0,"featured_article_flag":0,"media_gallery_flag":0,"video_gallery_flag":0,"highlight_flag":0,"top_story_flag":0,"is_updated":0,"is_old_article":0,"old_article_id":0,"article_byline":"Francisco S. Tatad","ts":"2025-01-07 19:08:15","last_edited":"2025-01-05 21:40:10","alt_publish_time":"2025-01-05 21:40:25","image_path":"{\\\"image_path\\\":\\\"manilatimes\\\\\/uploads\\\\\/images\\\\\/2025\\\\\/01\\\\\/05\\\\\/506064.jpg\\\",\\\"cms_type\\\":\\\"live\\\",\\\"small_image\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"is_updated\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_cropping\\\":\\\"{\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_original_width\\\\\\\":1920,\\\\\\\"image_original_height\\\\\\\":1008,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\"},\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_main_width\\\\\\\":1200,\\\\\\\"image_main_height\\\\\\\":629,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\"}}\\\",\\\"is_copied\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"media_type\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_caption\\\":\\\"Francisco Tatad\\\",\\\"image_alt_text\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"image_count\\\":1}","author_name":"Francisco S. Tatad","section_name":"Opinion","sub_section_name":"Columns","slide_show":0,"breaking_news":0,"visit_count_update_date":"2025-01-07 19:08:15","old_cms_article_id":null,"permalink":"2025\/01\/06\/opinion\/columns\/a-stormy-year-for-bagong-pilipinas\/2030541","show_image_in_thumb":0,"api_status":2,"a_custom_data":"{\"exclude_from_gallery\":null,\"lead_image_id\":null}","publication_id":2,"max_publish_time":"2025-01-06 00:12:00","page_number":"0","homepage_article_flag":0,"article_shortlink":null,"cropped_image":0};
