Out of this world, or out of touch?

While he was in Japan on a state visit last week, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) dismissed suggestions that Malacañang plays any meaningful role in determining who becomes Senate president. According to PBBM, senators independently choose their leader. The idea that they could be directed by Malacañang is, in his own words, “out of this world.”

Perhaps so. But what may be truly out of this world is expecting Filipinos to believe that presidential preference carries no weight in Philippine politics.

No one is claiming that a President literally summons senators into a room and orders them who to vote for. Politics is rarely that crude. Influence does not need to arrive in the form of commands. It often arrives through access, appointments, budgets, endorsements and party alliances, if not political dynasty connections.

And the simple reality is that politicians tend to gravitate toward the center of power.

Here in the Philippines, it is called Malacañang Palace. This is not unique to PBBM. It did not begin with him and certainly, it will not end with him.

Anyone who has followed Philippine politics for more than a few years understands that the occupant of Malacañang possesses enormous political gravitas. Cabinet members, agency heads, party leaders, local officials and legislators all understand where power resides. They adjust accordingly.

To pretend otherwise is to ignore decades of political history.

The truth is that every person who enters the Office of the President comes in with advantages in congressional leadership contests. Some exercise those advantages aggressively. Others do so more subtly. But the advantage exists, and it cannot be ignored or dismissed lightly.

That is why leadership changes in both the Senate and the House of Representatives have often coincided with shifts in presidential priorities. It is why politicians spend enormous efforts trying to determine who enjoys the confidence of Malacañang. It is why rumors about presidential preferences are treated seriously inside political circles even when publicly denied.

Because everyone understands that perceived presidential support matters. The irony is that nobody finds this particularly controversial. It is simply how political systems function. The real question is not whether presidents have influence. They do.

The real question is how that influence is exercised. Does it strengthen institutions or weaken them? Does it encourage consensus or punish independence? Does it respect the constitutional separation of powers or gradually blur the lines between the executive and legislative branches?

These are the questions that deserve public discussion.

What makes the current debate interesting is that it emerged precisely because Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano is widely perceived to have reached the position without the traditional blessing from Malacañang.

Whether that perception is accurate is almost beside the point. The public perception itself reveals something important: even many of those who insist that Malacañang has no role in the Senate leadership simultaneously acknowledge how unusual it is when someone reaches the post without presidential backing. One cannot hold both ideas at the same time.

If presidents truly have no influence, then presidential preference should be irrelevant. If presidential preference matters, then the discussion is not “out of this world.” It is rooted in political reality.

Filipinos, I would like to believe, are not politically naïve.

They understand the difference between formal authority and practical influence. They know that power is often exercised through relationships rather than directives. They know that politics is shaped as much by incentives as by rules.

Another example of which is how PBBM gingerly tried to avoid being dragged into the leadership change at the House of Representatives. Presidential first cousin, erstwhile speaker, Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez stepped down and gave way to the election of Isabela Rep. Faustino “Bojie” Dy III as new Speaker. While he categorically denied any complicity in the anomalies that went through the budget process, Romualdez opted to resign the speakership at the height of the multibillion-peso “ghost” flood control projects scandal.

All of these alleged “ghost” flood control projects originated in PBBM’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the joint opening session of the 20th Congress in July last year.

Even as Romualdez quietly stepped aside for Speaker Dy, the pro-administration Lakas-CMD which he heads remains in control of the House. Presidential son, Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos, continued in his post and practically runs the show as House majority leader. So how can PBBM wash his hands from the internal leadership changes in Congress?

In his talks with reporters while he was in Tokyo, the Chief Executive also sneered at perceived Malacañang’s hand to weaken the new Senate majority bloc with the filing of charges and the arrest of senators implicated in the alleged “ghost” flood control projects. They included members of the new Senate majority bloc – former Senate president Francis “Chiz” Escudero, Sens. Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva.

The ombudsman acted on the findings and recommendations from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its attached agency, the National Bureau of Investigation, that looked into the complaints of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) where these alleged “ghost” flood control projects came from. And all these fund allocations were backed by documents from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). All these emanated from actions initiated by the government agencies of the executive branch.

When they resume session today, the two-week old Senate presidency of Cayetano will again be tested after the dramatic walkout last week of the new minority bloc at the Senate. As expected, Malacañang is distancing itself from the continuing Senate leadership struggle.

But the public is unlikely to be persuaded by arguments that deny what they have repeatedly witnessed throughout modern Philippine history. The issue is not whether presidents influence congressional leadership. The issue is whether our leaders are willing to acknowledge that influence honestly. Because sometimes what sounds “out of this world” is simply a description of how politics actually works.

And what sounds disconnected from reality may not be the accusation; it may be the denial.