On the same day Marcos Jr. launched his Bagong Pilipinas (New Philippines) advocacy to tens of thousands Filipinos gathered at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta, city of Manila, Duterte attacked the current president with words trying to destroy Marcos Jr. and inspire hatred among attendees at a “prayer rally” in Davao City. While Bagong Pilipinas calls for unity, good governance and eradication of corruption, focus on the country’s improvement and development, and strength to help the administration succeed in its programs, Duerte’s  “prayer rally” wasn’t about prayer, but a personal attack on Marcos Jr., branding him as a drug addict, spewing worst curses, and saying he (Duterte) knew the addiction long ago when, as a Davao City mayor, he was shown a Narco-List by the PDEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) which included Marcos Jr.’s name in it.

The PDEA immediately issued a statement denying the accusation against Marcos Jr., that he was never on that list, and the fact that such classified list will never be shown to a mere city mayor. As Filipinos now know, Duterte is notorious for lying through his teeth.

When Duterte was president, in order to destroy the reputation of former Senator Antonio Trillanes, he “invented” a bank account number in Singapore, and accused Trillanes of amassing illegal wealth and putting money in that Singapore bank. Former Senator and Department of Justice Secretary Laila de Lima was imprisoned for six years because Duterte charged her with being a drug lords’ coddler and received drug money, with false testimonies of witnesses upon instruction of Duterte and his minions in power (who later recanted their testimonies due to their bothered consciences).

Duterte also charged Marcos Jr. with spearheading a Constitutional change (dubbed cha-cha) in Congress, not for amending the economic provisions to attract foreign investors, but to perpetuate himself in power. Duterte added that Marcos Jr. will likely be ousted in power similar to his father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. (who was ousted by People Power and installed Corazon Aquino as president in 1986).

To this, I have this counter response: the Duterte dynasty is perpetuating itself in power today. Rodrigo Duterte was an ex-president of the country; his two sons were a city mayor and a congressman., and his daughter, Sara Duterte, is the present vice-president of the Philippines. Who are you kidding, Mr. Ex-President?

Then, Duterte’s son, Davao City Mayor Baste Duterte called for Marcos Jr.’s resignation as president of the country. Why? Because the Dutertes want Sara Duterte to be our president NOW, not in 2028 (the next Philippines’ presidential election). Why wait five more years? If Sara becomes president, she will be untouchable, as well as her erring family members.

Duterte failed in his election promise to eradicate the drug menace in this country and he apologized to the people for this after his term of office. He admitted that many drug lords and protectors are generals and in high positions of power in government. Then his son called Marcos lazy.  For the record, it was during the early part of Marcos’ administration that many military and police generals were caught drug dealing and stealing confiscated drugs worth billions of pesos!!

Duterte also announced during his incumbency that he will rid the government of corruption. Record shows that corruption happened during his watch! How was his congressman son, Paolo able to get pork barrel amounting to 51 billion pesos (about $1 Billion) for his district in Davao, while all other congressmen were limited to only 75 million pesos tops?

Since NO People Power happened after Dutertes’ public attack against Marcos Jr., Duterte now called for the secession of Mindanao!! Well, if Mindanao gets its independence, it will become Duterte’s country, possibly a province of China. Unfortunately for Duterte, elected political leaders including the Muslim autonomous region, rejected his illegal call for secession.

I can think of a few very important reasons why the Dutertes want Marcos Jr. out of the picture:

• The International Court of Justice (ICC) has finished investigating the Extra Judicial Killings (EJK) of more than 30,000 people during Rodrigo Duterte’s stint as mayor of Davao City and as president of the Philippines, dubbing this cleansing a Drug War called Operation Tokhang. It is expected that ICC, despite Marcos’ pronouncement that the government will not cooperate with ICC, will arrest Duterte soon. It must be noted that most of those killed were drug addicts/pushers (the poor and users), just a number of mayors (one of whom was shot to death while already in custody in a police jail).

ICC’s witnesses include former Davao police officer Arturo Lascanas, whose testimony revealed the existence of Davao Death Squad of which he was a member, receiving direct orders on EJK from then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and millions of pesos for successful results and bonuses thereafter.

The Dutertes believe that Marcos Jr. will help ICC succeed in arresting Duterte and his cohorts.

• Sara Duterte will become President of the Philippines, and Duterte will never be arrested and prosecuted by ICC.
• All US Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites will be disbanded, and China will once again be able to occupy our shoals and tiny islands.
• China will build more military installations here instead, and attack Taiwan from here easily. (Why does China oppose our military buildup in the most northern island of Batanes? Its closeness to Taiwan, of course.)
• The Dutertes will lead a Constitutional Change to perpetuate themselves in power!

I would suggest that instead of the attacks and cursing the Dutertes publicly spewed during the Davao City “Prayer Rally,” the following prayer should have been offered by the public instead:

“Lord, please protect the Philippines from the Duterte clan. Please give justice to all EJK victims of the Dutertes, including the Filipino people who have been robbed of development projects worth billions of pesos; millions of confidential funds which cannot be audited; billions pocketed thru Immigration (Chinese POGO visas), Customs (drug smuggling) and via Pharmaly & DOH during the pandemic; and the setting free of big drug lords including those in the military and police. Please keep our borders safe from China and other predators. Help our country and our present president eradicate graft and corruption and the drug menace facing our youth. Lord, please let Rodrigo Duterte taste your wrath so he can stop demonizing our country and people. Please give President Marcos Jr. the strength, will and power to overcome the Dutertes’ devilish actions. Thank you, Lord.”