‘No weak leader’

There’s a joke that President Marcos cannot possibly be interested in staying in power beyond 2028. Why?

Because it sounds like work.

We don’t know how BBM takes jokes these days about his laid-back, conflict-averse (and work-averse?) persona.

I refer to “these days” because the President for the longest time had largely shrugged off blistering criticism mostly from the Duterte camp. But today it seems like the attacks are finally getting on BBM’s nerves.

As many have observed since the kick-off campaign for the administration’s Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas Senate slate, BBM it turns out isn’t above taking a swipe at his opponents.

Alyansa candidates themselves – probably not wanting to antagonize the still significant solid support base of the Dutertes in Mindanao and parts of the Visayas – have not joined BBM in going negative for the campaign.

But this means the Alyansa bets are also not defending BBM from the relentless attacks against him by the “new opposition” – as the Dutertes and their Diehard Supporters or DDS are presenting themselves.

BBM may be fully capable of defending himself from the attacks, thank you. But just for good measure, he has recruited an outspoken defender, in the person of new Palace press officer Claire Castro.

A lawyer and broadcaster, Castro is showing the pugnacity of former presidential spokesman Harry Roque, although minus his articulate flair. We have yet to see if Castro has Roque’s extensive knowledge of international law, which will be needed in the skirmishing over the International Criminal Court’s probe of Duterte’s drug war.

But for now, it looks like Castro is exactly what BBM wants as the mouthpiece of his administration – someone ready for a brawl with the uncouth Duterte and his still active army of supporters and trolls.

It must be what was missing in Cesar Chavez, who had an unremarkable stint as acting presidential communications secretary. Chavez, a former radio broadcaster, had admitted that he was resigning because he had “fallen short of what was expected of me.” He did not elaborate.

Castro is showing that she is ready to rumble.

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Among Castro’s earliest pronouncements last week: Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is “not and will never be a weak leader.”

Rodrigo Duterte had been calling Bongbong Marcos a weak cokehead even before the only son and namesake of dictator Ferdinand Marcos formally announced his bid for the presidency.

But BBM ignored the broadsides and teamed up with Duterte’s daughter Sara for their landslide win in 2022.

With the abysmal bar set by Duterte, it has been easy for Bongbong Marcos to score points in the human rights department and show that unlike his dearly departed dad, he has no authoritarian inclinations.

BBM is also pursuing a foreign policy that reflects the public pulse as consistently shown in all surveys – that Filipinos least trust China and still hold the US in high esteem.

In other aspects of governance, however, BBM has failed to meet public expectations, starting with his campaign “aspiration” for rice at P20 a kilo.

Throughout the first half of his term, the top concerns of Filipinos remained the same: high prices especially of food, lack of jobs, health care and poverty.

In recent months, these concerns have been aggravated by heightened public awareness of the institutionalized thievery of people’s money, with the tax-funded national budget being impounded by the administration and its greedy, deceitful allies for personal and partisan purposes.

Vice President Sara Duterte is part of the problem, but this hasn’t stopped her relatives and the DDS from using the budget scandal as ammunition against the Marcos-Romualdez camp.

As the VP faces her impeachment woes, her camp is employing the strategic offensive in warfare: the best defense is a good offense.

Judging from the President’s recent statements and those of his new mouthpiece, it looks like the normally unflappable BBM is offended.

Will we be seeing him issuing orders or implementing measures to prove that he is no weak leader?

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There are some folks who say BBM shouldn’t stoop down to the level of discourse characteristic of the foul-mouthed Duterte and his minions.

On the other hand, Marcos 2.0 must be looking at the survey trends, which show a progressive slide in the numbers of VP Sara, but also of the President.

The persistent attacks from the DDS, however, aren’t the main reason for BBM’s sliding ratings. There are many valid reasons for growing public dissatisfaction with the administration.

Abuses of Duterte family members in the previous and current administrations are among the reasons for this worsening winter of Pinoy discontent.

But DDS members are among the noisiest in amplifying valid issues raised by critics against Marcos 2.0.

The kidnapping of that 14-year-old Chinese student, with cops or soldiers believed to be in cahoots with the POGO-linked Chinese suspects, is being used to reinforce the image of growing lawlessness under BBM that the DDS has been painting.

Unfortunately for BBM, the collapse of a portion of that bridge in Isabela – built at a cost of P1.25 billion and newly retrofitted for another 274.8 million – less than a month following its opening has provided his critics with the perfect imagery for accusations of weakness and corruption under his watch.

The bridge was a decade in the making, with construction spanning three administrations, but the retrofitting and final touches were carried out under Marcos 2.0.

As of the weekend, the government was busy with damage control.

Even the best spokesperson can only do so much in defense.