By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA
Granted that public
uproar and the threat of a coup d’tat because of the March 11, 2012 report that incriminated him on alleged narcotics usage and succumbed Philippine President Ferdinand
“Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. to resign from his post, would you think the United
States government would allow his logical successor Vice President Sara Duterte
to assume power?
The scenarios I wrote above came from the brouhaha of the April 30, 2024 hearing by the Senate’s Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs chaired by Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa that invited sacked Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s (PDEA) investigating agent Jonathan Morales, the brass of the PDEA headed by Director General Moro Virgilio Lazo, and other resources persons on the authenticity of the March 11, 2012’s Authority to Operate and Pre-Operation Report implicating President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., actress Maricel Soriano, and others at Unit 4-C, Rizal Tower Building, Rockwell in Makati City where they have alleged narcotics session.
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| Philippines and U.S soldiers in one of their countless military exercises held somewhere in Luzon to buttress their skills against enemies like Mainland China. Photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class John Etheridge |
Morales – who signed
the two documents - collaborated the expose’ of anti – Marcos and Duterte
friendly U.S based Filipino vlogger Claire Contreras alias Maharlika on
the veracity of the photo copies of the docs. In the interview by Maharlika
with Morales, both discussed too the five photos attached to the documents of
the then Senator Marcos, the actress and company that could incriminate them.
In case the photos
circulate online for all and sundry to see, would they be the last nail of the
coffin to end the Marcos, Jr. Administration?
Let’s go back now to
my poser at the first paragraph of this op-ed article.
Would the U.S allow
Vice President Duterte to succeed as what the Philippines Constitution mandates
upon the resignation of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the military
and the police?
With the belligerent
China on the U.S $3 trillion a year (Reuter 2024) trade sea lane in the South China
Sea that benefit the U.S, East Asia and the Southeast Asian countries and the
safety of Taiwan being threatened by China at the 200 kilometers Luzon Strait,
a Duterte – accused by critics as Manchurian Candidate – in Malacanang could be
abhorrable with Uncle Sam.
When Sara’s father
became the country’s president, he became friendly with Beijing while being
critical with Washington.
Filipinos are
bothered with the deafening silence of the Vice President on the incessant
abuses done to the Filipinos by the Chinese Coast Guards at the Scarborough
Shoals (seized by China from the Philippines in 2012) and the Ayungin Shoal
where a warship BRP Sierra Madre was intentionally grounded in 1999 by the
Philippines military and manned by its Marines after the Chinese built a
military structure in the nearby Mischief Reef.
INTERFERENCE
How could the United
States government interfere in case the President resigns?
I’ll give you the
scenarios when the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) abet the assassination
done by the military of two sitting head of states because one of them was pro-Communist
and sought alliance with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the other
became abusive to his people while waging war against the Reds. All these
happened because they threatened the American business interest in the region.
CHILE
Salvador
Allende was a Chilean politician who served as the first Marxist and
the 28th president of Chile from
1970 until his death in 1973.
He won the presidency as the candidate of the Popular Unity coalition
in a close three-way race. Allende – a former senator, deputy and cabinet
minister of democratic Chile - was elected in a run-off by Congress as no candidate had gained a majority. He pursued a
policy called "The Chilean Way to Socialism".
Allende sought to nationalize major industries (a no-no to laissez faire conscious
U.S), expand education, and improve the living standards of the working class
but the coalition government was
far from unanimous because the Senate and the Supreme Court were critical of
his policies.
In 2000, the CIA admitted its role in the 1970 kidnapping of
General René Schneider who refused
to use the army to stop Allende's inauguration (Briscoe, David September 20, 2000. "CIA Admits Involvement in Chile". ABC News). On
September 11, 1973, the military ousted Allende in a CIA supported coup
d'état ("Chile: The Bloody End of a Marxist Dream". Time.
September 24, 1973). As troops
surrounded La Moneda Palace, he gave
his last speech vowing not to resign. Later that day, Allende died
allegedly by suicide in his office. Besides his corpse was an AK-47
assault rifle given to him as a gift by Cuba’s Communist President Fidel Castro. It bore a golden plate inscription: "To
my friend and comrade-in-arms, Fidel Castro”. Following Allende's
death, General Augusto Pinochet refused
to return authority to a civilian government while he governed through military
junta until 1989.
VIETNAM
Ngô Đình
Diệm was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955) and later the first president of South Vietnam
from 1955 until his capture and
assassination during the CIA-backed 1963 South Vietnamese coup.
In 1963, Diệm's favoritism towards Catholics and persecution of
practitioners of Buddhism in Vietnam led to the Buddhist crisis. The event damaged relations with the United
States – enmeshed with war against the USSR and Mainland China funded communist
North Vietnam and insurgent’s Vietcongs - and other previously sympathetic
countries, and his organization lost favor with the leadership of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam.
On November 1, 1963, the country's
leading generals launched a coup d'état with assistance from the Central Intelligence Agency.
Diệm and his brother Nhu, initially escaped, but were captured the following
day. They were assassinated at the back of an M113 armored personnel carrier with
a bayonet and revolver by Captain Nguyễn Văn Nhung, under
orders from General Dương Văn Minh (who later headed the Junta) given
while en route to the Vietnamese Joint General Staff headquarters (Bui, D.;
Chanoff, D. (1999). In the Jaws of
History. Vietnam War Era Classics Series. Indiana University Press).
POORLY
FUNDED PH MILITARY AND THE U.S AID
For this year the Armed Forces of the
Philippines has a budget of ₱285.690 billion (US$ 5.10 billion) or merely 0.98%
of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). The United States military aid
from years 2015 to 2022, the Manila government received more than $1.14 billion worth
of aircraft, armored vehicles, small arms, equipment and training, $475 million
of it in aid.
A U.S Senate Bill called Philippines Enhanced
Resilience Act of 2024 (PERA Act) was filed by U.S Senators William Francis
Hagerty (R - TN) and Tim Kaine (D-VG) that seeks US$500 million a year in foreign
military financing (FMF) for Manila from 2025 through 2029 or a total of US$2.5
billion for five years.
The bipartisan measure was introduced a day before (April 10) the trilateral summit in Washington D.C. of U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and President Marcos.
POSER
My quiry: Incase Marcos heeds the people and
the military pressure to resign, who would lead the Junta backed up by Uncle
Sam?
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