Cousin, dearest

When the president first denounced corruption by government contractors in his State of the Nation Address, one felt it was performative. After all, with millions of citizens shrieking from the storms and floods immediately preceding his speech, his decision to address the concerns of an upset populace was the predictable move.

Did the president predict it was going to get this far, though? Or was this the master plan all along?

The ensuing congressional and Senate investigations have led to scandal after scandal, and revealed name after name, until it has tainted not just private contractors, but sitting congressmen, undersecretaries from the executive department, a sprinkling of senators, the then-Senate president and finally, the president’s own cousin, the speaker of the House.

Now that it has gone this far, we wonder. Was this intended? Or was his cousin just collateral damage in the continuing quest of the president to cleanse his image?

At the start of his presidency, political columnist Manolo Quezon described his predicament at having a three-body problem. Manolo was alluding to the science fiction novel by Liu Cixin, where three stars surround a planet, creating an unstable situation that threatened the existence of the dependent life forms. In the president’s case, he was subject to three forces surrounding him and exerting gravitational pull. There was his sister Senator Imee Marcos, his cousin Speaker of the House Martin Romualdez, and his wife first lady Liza Araneta.

All three were, obviously, not working in total sync, and were presumably pursuing their own respective agendas. Midway, we saw sister Senator Imee discarded by the administration, and practically scrabbling her way to retain power in her reelection bid, which left wife Liza and cousin Martin free to focus on each other.

Was this a calculated move to get cousin Martin out of the way? When the House of Representatives led by Romualdez made the bold move to impeach the vice president, we thought it had the blessings of the Palace. But the impeachment strategy was choked by Senate President Escudero, and gave the president himself no tangible benefit. So the House’s move went kaput.

That left wife Liza in the clear, and practically free to make merry.

When the president was trying to rustle up ideas for his State of the Nation address, who was there pitching him ideas? The nation was literally drowning at that time, awash in disasters here and there, so of course it was necessary to address the flooding. But whose idea was it to rat on the crocs? And again, did they (or she) think it would ever touch those near and dear to his excellency?

Was it just to a stratagem to fry a little fish, merely to get a semblance of justice and appease public anger? Or, even more nefarious, was it meant to eventually get back at the Senate president for his role in throttling the impeachment proceedings? Or was there another target all along?

The Department of Justice has now been handed the baton to prosecute those identified by the investigations. So far, the list furnished to them does not include the cousin. Will it ever get to that stage? Was that ever the intention?

If intended, that would set the stage for a fantastic rivalry. A showdown that sets the stage for the next generation of Marcoses and Romualdezes to duke it out. Imagine initiating a scenario that threatens the speaker’s immense wealth. What would Martin Romualdez do now that he is directly accused of participating in kickbacks? What can he salvage from this political and social storm that has revealed (some of) his vast properties, and shone a spotlight at the riches surrounding him?

The times feel strangely reminiscent of the People Power Revolution, which forced his father Kokoy Romualdez to flee the country and into a life of exile for more than a decade. This great reveal has snowballed into an avalanche, with no clear ending in sight. The Romualdez clan must be furious.

We await the next move, cousin.