Family feud

The presidential veto of that seemingly innocuous bill on the declaration of Pampanga as the culinary capital of the Philippines, I just learned, might have been due to something less benign than preventing discrimination against other provinces and regions.

At least that’s the suspicion of the bill’s sponsor in the Senate: President Marcos’ elder sister Imee.

Now Ate Imee wonders if the bill was vetoed because she was the co-sponsor: “Kasalanan ko kaya? Si GMA?” The bill’s sponsor in the House of Representatives is another former ally who is now in the administration doghouse, Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

“That was such a kamote bill,” Senator Imee told a small gathering of journalists last Wednesday, describing her brother’s veto as a show of “kababawan” or shallowness.

The gathering was held just hours before she released a statement announcing that she would no longer be part of her brother’s Senate slate, due to differences in principles.

This came after BBM omitted mentioning her in his recent campaign pitches for the bets of the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas, instead endorsing just “10 or 11” candidates. The senator is now positioning herself as an independent bet.

What sealed the siblings’ estrangement must have been Senator Imee’s inquiry into the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte and turnover to the International Criminal Court through the Interpol. Her preliminary report, released yesterday, concluded that there were “glaring violations” of Duterte’s rights when he was arrested and packed off to the ICC in The Hague.

The issue appears to be a touchy one for BBM. Ate Imee admitted as much yesterday: “Nagalit yata sa akin…” When BBM pitches for only “10 or 11” Senate bets out of the original 12 who were at the inaugural rally, the other one who faces possible junking by the Alyansa is a member of a clan that lamented Duterte’s arrest.

Senator Imee says she hasn’t spoken with BBM since Duterte’s arrest – and in fact for some time now. She stopped attending the weekend get-togethers of the Marcos-Romualdez clan a long time ago because, she said with characteristic candor, “Ayaw ko ng plastikan.”

She said she started being eased out of her brother’s inner circle as early as November 2021, among others by his campaign manager (now estranged) Vic Rodriguez and Marcos cousin Martin Romualdez, now the Speaker.

Senator Imee only smiles when First Lady Liza Marcos is mentioned.

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I asked if Senator Imee was planning Episode 2 of the arrest probe. She’s still unsure, and recalled that no one expected much from the hearing.

“Nobody was enthusiastic about the probe. I don’t know what possessed me,” she told us, adding that even Sen. Bong Go said Duterte’s arrest was over and done.

Vice President Sara Duterte, when asked in The Hague amid the probe if she would endorse Senator Imee for reelection, said she was still thinking about it. The senator told me that the VP texted her, thanking her for the probe, but they haven’t spoken so far.

An engaging person, the senator admitted being upset at Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla, who she said “was already shouting at me” during the hearing. Her staff, she said, wanted her to jump across the room and slug Remulla.

“I was very polite to Boying,” she said, first because she loved him, and second because he was sick. “Unang-una, mahal ko yung Remulla, and pangalawa, may sakit. And I thought maybe I might be able to get something out of him.”

It was the government, she said, that decided to send all those officials to the hearing. So many resource persons attended, she said, that she had to scramble for additional food.

The senator asked the journalists at the gathering about our views on the recent developments, as she acknowledged the difficulty of assessing the situation.

“I don’t know. Where is this heading ba?” she told us. “One thing’s for sure: this is bad for business.”

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She left the gathering briefly to greet the head of her party, the Nacionalista – billionaire Manny Villar, who was in the same hotel.

Whether the Nacionalistas will support her independent run remains to be seen. Villar’s daughter, Las Piñas Rep. Camille remains part of the Alyansa.

Pollster Social Weather Stations’ latest survey taken March 15 to 20 – after Duterte’s arrest, but before Senator Imee conducted the hearing – showed her sliding to 16th place, from 12th to 14th last December.

Stratbase Consultancy commissioned the survey. Its head Dindo Manhit told “Storycon” on One News yesterday that he saw a continuing slide in the senator’s ratings before the May elections because of her ambiguous loyalties and constituency.

This sentiment has been expressed by Duterte’s former chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo, who said yesterday that if Senator Imee truly meant her statements, she should initiate the impeachment of her brother.

Senator Imee, a veteran of campaigns, pointed out noteworthy shifts in Philippine political campaigns. Holding the attention of the audience during rallies has become an uphill battle, she told us, as attention spans have become much shorter.

Young voters in particular hardly listen to campaign spiels, looking instead at their cell phones or just leaving the venue after a short while. Even older voters get bored quickly, the senator noted, listening only when the show biz and media personalities speak. The youths, Senator Imee said, become enthusiastic only when popular music bands perform.

How do you sell issues to such voters?

Now she has an added challenge even in her home turf. At a recent sortie in Candon, Ilocos Sur, older voters grilled her on why she was fighting with her brother.

She had to tell them over and over, she told us with a grin, that “Apo Lakay” – referring to her late father Ferdinand Senior – had instructed her to protect her only brother. This, she stressed, is what she has been trying to do.

In the light of recent developments, I asked her how she was faring in her mission.

She responded wryly: “I have completely failed, haven’t I?”