Warring egos lead to public good

The whole country eagerly watches and listens as the two most powerful political families are figuratively coming to blows with gloves off. The spectacle must be horrifying to supporters but titillating to detractors.

In Davao City last Sunday, Duterte camp members took turns attacking President Marcos and his administration’s actions. The first attack was on the very person of the incumbent president. Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte accused Mr. Marcos of being lazy, lacking in compassion, soft on criminality, and cozying up with communists. He angrily called for Mr. Marcos’ resignation. Former president Rodrigo Duterte outrightly accused Mr. Marcos of being a drug addict.

The second point of attack was on the Marcos administration’s move in supposedly allowing International Criminal Court (ICC) investigators to enter the country. Mayor Baste Duterte accused Mr. Marcos of being an ingrate, pointing out that it was his father who allowed a hero’s burial for the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Former president Duterte declared: “Why do I have an ICC investigation? They said I had drug addicts killed. It’s a good thing I’m no longer in power, or else I might include you [Mr. Marcos].”

The third point of attack was the Marcos camp’s ongoing attempt to amend the Constitution through a so-called people’s initiative. Former Marcos executive secretary Vic Rodriguez branded the move as involving “unconstitutional means and processes via a fake, despotic, tyrannical, and graft ridden people’s initiative.” The former president accused First Lady Liza Marcos of being “hungry for power” and House Speaker Martin Romualdez for wanting to be “prime minister.” Mr. Duterte warned Mr. Marcos that he could suffer his father’s fate, who was ousted from power, if he continues to push for Charter change.

The Marcos camp fired back. Mr. Marcos blamed former president Duterte’s tirades as the side effects of the latter’s long addiction to fentanyl. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chimed in, declaring that Mr. Marcos was never in its watch list of drug personalities. Romualdez reminded the former president of his failed drug war where thousands were killed and yet the drug problem continued, and for his criminal culpability for acts done during his own administration.

The Duterte camp has all the selfish reasons to go ballistic on the Marcos administration. All roads leading to their 2028 return in Malacañang are being blocked. Vice President Sara Duterte’s access to hundreds of millions in confidential funds has been blocked. Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte’s billions in pork barrel funds have been reduced tremendously. The Duterte megaphone, Sonshine Media Network International, has been indefinitely suspended. The move to amend the Constitution will either greatly diminish or entirely eliminate the chances of VP Sara to become president in 2028. Worse of all, an ICC arrest and trial for both former president Duterte and VP Sara will spell absolute doom for the family.

Meanwhile, the Marcos camp’s self-serving move to amend the Charter has given the Duterte camp’s fight-back a façade of public interest advocacy. This is, despite the fact that, in truth, the Dutertes are equally motivated by self-interest. The Dutertes and their still vast number of supporters have become de facto allies of Catholic Church leaders, civil society members, and supporters of the traditional opposition, who are all gearing up to fight Charter change. In fact, it bequeaths to the Dutertes the lead role in this battle. Whatever veneer of moral ascendancy that the Marcos camp generates in denying the Duterte’s access to public funds and in allowing their investigation by the ICC, is completely canceled out by their barefaced attempt to amend the Charter for brazen self-interest.

For their own selfish aims, the Marcos camp works to derail the Dutertes’ ambitions of regaining power in 2028, but in doing so they employ means that unintentionally benefit the public welfare. For their self-serving interest, the Duterte camp aims to block the Marcoses’ aspirations of perpetuating themselves in power beyond 2028, but in doing so they employ means that coincidentally favor the public good. There’s a monumental clash of greed and ego that’s unexpectedly fostering public good.

They say greed and ego are bad. The smoldering political conflict unfolding in our midst, resulting from colliding egos and clashing greed, prove that they can also be forces of good. Sometimes, at least. Not intentionally, but accidentally. In this godforsaken country of ours, an arid land incapable of growing leaders who bear fruits of public good, a downpour of rain from an unexpected thunderstorm is a welcome blessing.

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