un Bearable Bruised Marcos

No populace would cry in agony if the politicians most Filipinos elected give remedies to what pain they were complaining for. One year after the oath-taking of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. as the 17th President of the Philippines, many things have happened, but not with the “Bangon Bayan Muli,’— his slogan campaign, drawing enormous enticement to the Filipino citizenry. With five years left in his tenure, Philippines is no way getting better nor the poverty that the populace face assuage— contrary to what he promised in his first State of the Nation Address.

The status quo of self-rated food poor households continues to challenge what the present ruling is doing to ease the burden of poverty-stricken Filipinos. In the third quarter of 2022—Marcos’ first three months in the highest post, 49% or 12.6 million Filipino families considered themselves poor, as released by Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey. This has significantly risen to 51% or 12.9 million households in the fourth quarter of 2022. The first quarter of 2023 revealed 51% or 14 million households, rating themselves as poor.

Moreover, the son of the late dictator boarded overseas trips— eight times in his first seven months in Malacanang to seek profiles and entities that would invest in our country. However, these trips were deemed as futile, because if they are not, we do not need the passage of the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) —the first in history sovereign wealth fund, optimizing national funds through generation of returns to back the BBM administration’s economic goals. Sure, MIF is promising to other countries, but with the Philippines’ in a great constrained budgetary environment worsened by the global plague, this a right measure in a wrong time. The MIF will exclude government corporations and agencies that provide for both social security and public health insurances from contributing to and investing in the Fund. This exclusion encompassed GSIS, SSS, Pag-IBIG, OWWA, PhilHealth, and PVAO. The allegation that the MIF will only feed the starving crocodiles was not beaten as the bill passed the final reading in the Senate, in a hasty pace.

In the media landscape, the Marcos government vows to protect the freedom of journalism. With the catapulted attacks and killings to Filipino media personnels, the light at the end of the tunnel of journalistic independence seemed to be a far-fetch dream. According to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines at Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, 75 cases of media attacks have been recorded since BBM started his presidency. In fact, this has surpassed the 41 cases annually of the Duterte administration. Red cards have also become rampant during the 2022 campaign sorties. Bagwis, the official student publication of this university, did not escape the nets of red-tagging after posting publication materials during the golden anniversary of the horrible Martial Law. Nevertheless, the publication has remained sturdy with its core values to amplify the voices, defend freedom, and publish truth.

Despite these proofs speaking volume on the lapses of the administration, his Vice President Sara Duterte expressed her compliment to BBM on his first year in office. “Makalipas ang isang taon, napatunayan ni Apo BBM ang determinasyon ng pamahalaan na tuparin ang mga naging pangako nito sa mga Pilipino noong eleksyon.” These words of lady Duterte are nothing but forthrightly ignoring the reality the population has navigated through—eating meals three times a day becomes barely when it should not be. The promises of BBM during elections were all clear—crystal, but not the fulfillment of his sweet oaths to the public.

The inks we shaded last national elections dictated for what the Philippines has traversed in the past year— the names we circled have begun scribbling the country’s today and its daunting future. Perhaps, it would be too early to judge Marcos Jr.’s performance just yet for his fanatics, but for Juans who did not vote solely for names, this one year of his incumbency is a fog through which we already had a glimpse of what has in store for the Philippines in the next five years. Not even a shadow of Bangon Bayan Muli transpired, only the salts that sprinkled to the unhealed bruises of the economy inherited from the past ascendancy. A best service of leaders to Filipinos is strongly called for. Now, we can only pray for clear and effective band aids to alleviate the lives of Filipinos because today, life in the motherland, especially for those in the pedestal, is unbearable.

14 Opinyon Bagwis

ni Sharif Ryan Beldia