Our politicos’ drug of choice

“I think it’s the fentanyl.” 

This, as we all might have heard by now, was President Marcos’ reaction to Rody Duterte’s accusations that the President is constantly high on illegal drugs. 

Duterte, who doesn’t mince his words and is in fact known for his foul mouth, said Marcos is a drug user – then and now. 

“Bongbong, bangag ’yan,” ex-president Duterte said.
Bangag is unique in our language. Its closest translation is stoned but also not quite enough. It’s so much more than that. Bangag may mean being in a somnambulant spell of sorts or in some parallel universe. It refers to one’s behavior when one is high on drugs – either demented, ecstatic, violent or stoic.

Duterte made the accusation during the rally organized by Duterte supporters in Davao last Sunday to protest ongoing moves to change the Charter.

The usually non-combative and polite Marcos responded with his own accusation, saying that the fentanyl-addicted Duterte must have been affected by the opioid after five or six years of using it. 

Fentanyl, you see, is extremely dangerous. It is being blamed for the devastating opioid crisis in the US. It’s a highly addictive and lethal pain killer with effects on users ranging from euphoria, relaxation, to drowsiness, etc.

Says an NBC News article dated Jan. 31: “Fentanyl, an extremely lethal synthetic opioid, is at the center of a drug crisis that has devastated communities across the US. Of the more than 70,000 overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids in 2021, the vast majority were fentanyl-related, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

The war is on

The “drug war” between Marcos and Duterte, as our headline the other day brilliantly put it, stemmed from ongoing efforts to change the Charter, a move that has been nothing but divisive and, more importantly, a source of distraction for our lawmakers. 

The Senate, jittery over its future and relevance if the push for Charter change succeeds, has launched its investigation on the so-called people’s initiative, with the aim of establishing links between this well-funded movement and presidential cousin, House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

We will have to wait and see where this goes and how it will end.

But as these cracks in the UniTeam continue to unravel, the whole issue also puts the spotlight on the glaring and disturbing problem that remains a social ill in our country today – use of prohibited drugs.

Only in the Philippines do we have a President and his predecessor accusing each other of illegal drug use.

At the very least, these drug accusations show that the problem remains rampant in our country and that past attempts to address it has exempted the powerful and the wealthy.

As a Filipino, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Surely, if we were a Netflix series, this episode would be an edge-of-your seat dark comedy. 

It’s funny how our politicos can easily spill the beans on each other when their own position of power is threatened and they are cornered into desperate situations. 

Isn’t it appalling that during Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, the bodies of tens of thousands of nameless people, mostly from the poorest slums, were found hogtied or strewn grotesquely in dark corners of Metro Manila? 

These extra-judicial deaths allegedly involved users, pushers, runners or just about every powerless addict-looking individual. The number of victims varies – 6,000 or 20,000, depending on who is providing the numbers. 

But the exact count doesn’t matter, really. One death is already too many. 

And yet, and yet, in this nation of 114 million, the war on drugs or the war on anything, seems focused only on the poor, the underprivileged and the marginalized. 

The justice system favors only the rich and the powerful. 

This is what this latest tirade between the President and ex-president shows. Isn’t it a curious case that none of them formally charged each other for drug use, if they both believed that the other is a user?

The funny thing is that these rumors of drug use among people in power aren’t new, especially in this Republic of Marites. 

We’ve long heard of politicians, businessmen and celebrities allegedly hooked on drugs. Some were caught with drugs but eventually released for one reason or another.

These are society’s open secrets which nobody bothers talking about. 

Anti-drug authorities are sometimes forced to turn a blind eye because here in the Philippines, putting the wealthy or the powerful behind bars seems so wrong. 

What a strange republic this is. 

The only time we hear about the crimes of people in power is when their fellow politicos or leaders spill the beans on them and it’s not even for the service of the nation but more often than not, it’s just for self-preservation.

It’s really all about power. As the 19th century British politician Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  

Clearly, our politicos’ drug of choice isn’t fentanyl, marijuana or heroin.

Their drug of choice is power and how absolutely addicted they all are. 

*      *      *

Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.