This is the #NeverForget Diary, a weekly summary of what’s happening in the Philippines under Marcos II. In a time of mangled histories and fragile memories, it’s crucial never to forget. (Note: this post may be clipped in your email inbox. Photo above from OneNews. The original title of this post was “Missing in Action.”)
Typhoon Karding (international name Noru) battered much of Luzon early this week. In some places it registered as Signal No. 5—the highest typhoon signal there is.
Marikina River overflowed:
The typhoon’s effects were felt all the way to Antique province:
Karding arrived on the evening of September 25 and devastated huge swathes of Luzon on September 26—which is notable since on that day 13 years ago the much more devastating Typhoon Ondoy beat Luzon:
As legitimate journalists covered Typhoon Karding and its impact, some netizens wondered where the president’s vloggers were in this time of need. Recall that right when Marcos Jr. came to office, these vloggers claimed to be the new media. Like their principal, they’re nowhere to be found.
Meanwhile, some politicians appeared were aloof and insensitive as ever. For instance, Former Palace spokesman Harry Roque posted a picture from “hot” Cebu.
For his part—and just as Karding was arriving—President Marcos Jr. himself tweeted about his “successful” trip to New York.
Many people thought this insensitive and irresponsible.
The president also just shared an infographic card on how to prepare for Karding.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) convened on September 25, when Karding first made landfall, but Marcos Jr. himself was not present.
Former Palace aide Raf Ignacio couldn’t help but think how differently the late president Noynoy Aquino would’ve handled things:
Of course Marcos Jr. just came back from the US. Still, he could’ve cut his trip short and convened his disaster officials at the airport.
This behavior from Marcos Jr. is par for the course, if you think of it:
When Marcos Jr. finally met the NDRRMC on September 26, he said, “Is that the trend, ‘yan na ‘yung (is that) climate change? Wala naman tayong ganyan noon. (We didn’t have storms as bad as this before.)” Really?
Not at all true that typhoons such as Karding are unprecedented:
Some people also noticed the overuse of plexiglass in the meeting—proof that the government has not learned all this while that COVID-19 is airborne.
In the same NDRRMC meeting, someone reported to the president that there were no casualties due to Karding. But in fact 5 rescue workers died in San Miguel, Bulacan. Total casualties numbered 12 as of writing.
Marcos Jr.’s bemusement about typhoons getting stronger and stronger is odd, since just last week he gave a speech at the UN General Assembly talking about climate change and climate justice.
Some netizens also recalled Greta Thunberg’s recent statements that there will be no climate justice under Marcos-Duterte.
Still other people recalled ex-VP Leni Robredo’s statement when Typhoon Ulysses arrived in 2020:
Speaking of Robredo, she memorably dissed Marcos Jr. in the campaign trail by saying that in difficult moments Marcos Jr. was nowhere to be seen—and therefore should not be voted. True enough…
Robredo’s Angat Buhay Foundation was hard at work during Karding.
Thankfully, Karding didn’t leave as much damage as expected. Some people thanked the Sierra Madre mountain range in Luzon, which shielded Luzon and abated the worst of Karding. Incidentally, September 26 was also Save the Sierra Madre Day.
NEED FOR SPEED
By the way, mere days after Karding, Marcos Jr. was confirmed to have flown to Singapore to watch the return of Formula One (F1) in Asia since the pandemic started.
The president brought with him son Sandro (deputy speaker of the House) and cousin Martin Romualdez (speaker of the House). The president was seen hobnobbing with businessmen like Jaya Sudhir who was implicated in government scandals before.
According to Rappler,
“General tickets for the event range from SG$128 (P5,250) to SG$1,288 (P52,840) for a three-day pass. Meanwhile, hospitality packages...range from SG$1,766 (approximately P72,500) to SG$9,898 (about P406,000)...”
This reeked of insensitivity since parts of the country are still reeling from the aftermath of Typhoon Karding:
Raf Ignacio shared that ex-president Noynoy Aquino was also regularly invited to watch F1 races at Singapore, but declined them:
A netizen also recalled how Aquino was pilloried for buying a secondhand sports car with his own money…which he eventually returned:
It’s also against the Civil Code for public servants to engage in “thoughtless extravagance in expenses for pleasure or display during a period of acute public want…”
Memes were made, as always:
The president’s penchant for partying seems to be the defining characteristic of his first 100 days in office:
SPECIAL MESSAGE
For her part, Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio wasn’t doing so hot either.
On the eve of Karding’s arrival, she also tweeted about the US trip and Marcos Jr.’s return (where she weirdly tailed the president across the airport):
On September 26, VP Duterte also released a video where she greeted Chinese officials for the PRC’s 73rd founding anniversary. She spoke in heavily broken Mandarin—as if there was a roll call.
Her unprecedented message was not only several days early…
…but also became the subject of many great memes:
Rappler tried to make sense of the weird speech:
The context of the last one is that Duterte went to Japan on September 27—right after Karding left the country—to attend the funeral of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe (who was quite friendly to her father).
Speaking of Duterte—and with the House having just finished its deliberations on the proposed 2023 budget—the Senate breezed through the proposed budget for the Office of the Vice President out of “respect.” What about respect for taxpayers’ hard-earned money?
Duterte’s budget request for the Department of Education (DepEd), which she also heads, also breezed through. But why in the first place is she asking for P150 million for “confidential funds” for the DepEd—an unprecedented request?
She had difficulty answering the questions of Senator Risa Hontiveros:
Apparently she stands by her request for a mind-boggling P100 billion budget for the DepEd next year.
She conceded that her push to bring back ROTC is more appropriate at the higher education level—outside the purview of DepEd.
By the way, Duterte is also pushing to buy the martial law-era Coconut Palace as the vice president’s permanent residence:
Not surprising that Sara would want to make relevant once more the Coconut Palace, one of the ostentatious structures built during martial law. It was meant to house Pope John Paul II in 1981, but the pontiff found it too lavish and stayed elsewhere.
Ex-PCGG commissioner Ruben Carranza provided more context:
LOOMING RICE SHORTAGE?
As Typhoon Karding approached, there were fears for the country’s rice harvests:
Such typhoon damage—amounting to P2.95 billion so far—may contribute to the rice shortage projected later this year. And the typhoon will likely contribute to elevated food prices and inflation:
Speaking of rice, agriculture officials are said to be hesitating to import rice because they might suffer the fate of ex-agriculture undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian, who was sacked in the wake of the sugar importation fiasco.
Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban dismissed calls for rice importation, and said the “buffer stock [of rice is] sufficient even after Karding.”
Agriculture policy leaves much to be desired with Marcos Jr. at the helm:
JUSTICE BEAT
Former Supreme Court chief justice Lucas Bersamin has replaced Vic Rodriguez as executive secretary:
Bersamin sided with the Marcoses in many past Supreme Court decisions:
Interestingly, Bersamin concurred with a past SC decision against current Palace press secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles:
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court spoke out against the red-tagging of a Manila judge and the death threats made against her by “a certain Lorraine Badoy”:
The UP College of Law also came out with a statement:
International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan wants the investigation into Duterte’s bloody drug war to continue:
This drew angry responses from Senator Bato dela Rosa, Duterte’s first chief of police at the height of the drug war:
Finally, Marcos Jr. has appointed Richard Palpal-Iatoc as new chair of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). A far cry from the likes of, say, former CHR chair Chito Gascon.
The Human Rights Watched denounced the appointment, saying Palpal-Iatoc is a “[Marcos] loyalist lawyer with no discernible experience in human rights work.”
Some netizens dug up old photos:
GLOBAL RECESSION COMING?
Inflation is the top global concern these days:
In ASEAN, inflation has risen most especially in Lao PDR and Myanmar:
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) forecasts that Philippine inflation may have been as high as 7.4% in September:
Inflation, when high and persistent, slows down consumption and spending:
Shipping costs seem to be dropping…
…and inflation expectations seem to be abating in the US:
But still many central banks—including the US Fed—are continuing their rate hikes:
In ASEAN, policy rates are all rising…
…but despite this, inflation expectations are still rising.
As it pursues rate hikes, the BSP is also reportedly postponing cutting its reserve requirement ratio:
The European Central Bank is also poised to further push up its policy rate in October:
Timely since real wages have fallen in the eurozone, and the inflation gap between the rich and poor has risen dramatically:
With many central banks all over the world pursuing monetary tightening (by raising policy rates), real interest rates have risen on account of falling inflation expectations:
More importantly, the uncoordinated rate hikes may trigger a full-blown global recession or downturn. Said one analysis, the chances of a global recession right now have risen to 98%. Yikes.
Monetary tightening is increasingly hurting countries other than the US…
…and may also worsen income inequality, based on previous studies.
As the US Fed hikes its interest rates, many global currencies—including the Philippine peso—continue to plunge against the extremely strong US dollar…
and the British pound.
Here’s the dollar’s strength against a basket of international currencies:
The peso’s weakness is making imports a lot more expensive, and may also drive up water rates:
The weak peso is supposed to prop up exports. But this is not seen in the data:
Many other ASEAN currencies have weakened against the dollar, most of all the Lao kip and Burmese kyat (unsurprising since they have also experienced ASEAN’s worst inflation hikes):
The volatile peso is prompting the BSP to intervene more in currency markets, where they’re poised to borrow and siphon pesos in the currency markets:
Finally, another fallout of the global rise of interest rates is that capital is fleeing the Philippines. The Philippine Stock Exchange has entered into a bear market…
…and there’s a net outflow of foreign direct investments of late:
Indeed, amid the outflow of capital, Marcos Jr. tried to hype up the Philippines as an investment destination in his trips abroad. In an interview with AP, Marcos Jr. said he wants to “reintroduce” the Philippines to the world. What?
At the inauguration of a new airport terminal in Cebu, Marcos Jr. also said the Philippines is “open for business.” When were we not open for business?
William Pasek wrote for Forbes that Marcos Jr.’s first few months in office are rather lackluster:
“The actual moves Marcos has made aren’t promising as these things go. For example, he put himself in charge of the agriculture ministry. It’s a bizarre move… How growing up the scion of the Philippines’ most notorious dynastic family leaves Marcos skilled in the sciences of crop yields is anyone’s guess.”
With such performance, will Marcos Jr. be able to bring in much investments? That will be difficult. I wrote about this in my Rappler column this week.
MISCELLANY
The president spoke at the 55th annual meeting of the ADB’s board of governors. The Manila Bulletin chose to publish an awkward photo from the event…
More farmlands are giving way to urbanization and infrastructure projects:
Sugar prices have stabilized, according to a pro-Marcos TikToker. But this is false:
Senator Pia Cayetano awkwardly grilled University of the Philippines President Danilo Concepcion on UP’s failure to push for full face-to-face classes this semester:
After banning “subversive” books recently, the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino has withdrawn such book ban:
Following Shopee’s hiring of Marcos loyalist Toni Gonzaga as its new brand ambassador, some netizens have decided to delete their Shopee apps for good:
Some merchants have also dropped Shopee and decided to do business on other platforms instead:
There’s footage of a ship dumping sand/soil at Manila Bay, presumably for one of the big reclamation projects slated there:
BPI will be merging with Robinsons Bank—but apparently this transaction is not big enough to warrant an automatic review by the government’s competition watchdog, the Philippine Competition Commission:
A portion of Meralco Avenue will be closed until 2028 (!) for the construction of a station of the Metro Manila Subway:
A fierce argument over pandesal between a young lawmaker and the not-so-young chair of the National Youth Commission:
A total of 433 people won the Grand Lotto 6/55. Some were perplexed at the odds of this happening, but note that this is how the wining numbers are aligned on the cards:
Math genius Terrence Tao chimed in:
A tweet went viral about how some Singaporeans have looked down on their domestic workers or househelps. Someone noted that more than half of househelps in Singapore are Filipinos:
Has China’s Belt and Road Initiative flopped?
Speaking of China, it’s growth this year will be quite lackluster:
Vietnam recorded a whopping 13.67% GDP growth rate in Q3 2022:
Just another way Vietnam is overtaking the Philippines. Investing in Vietnam these days just makes more sense.
#NEVERFORGET
This week Marcos Jr. attended the 65th anniversary of the Social Security System (SSS)—one of the cash cows of his father during martial law, as pointed out by journalist Raissa Robles:
The Ateneo de Manila University is not done marking the 50th anniversary of the declaration of martial law:
In the teaching of martial law history, we must go beyond facts. Dr. Maris Diokno—former chair of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines—suggests the teaching of “historical emphaty”:
Diokno and colleagues have a new study at the FEU Public Policy Center on the sorry state of Philippine history textbooks:
A podcast report on this:
Calls for the return of PH history in high school are becoming louder:
Walden Bello, currently in the US, came across this book by economist James Boyce on martial law economics:
A discovery I made while poring over tax data:
#COURAGEON
Rappler CEO and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa will be awarded an honorary doctorate by the Ateneo de Manila University:
A Thousand Cuts—a documentary featuring Ressa and Rappler’s struggles in the Duterte administration—has won a News Emmy:
GRAPHS OF NOTE
Autocratic governments inflate their GDP figures:
Food insecurity in the world has risen alongside food inflation:
The rich are emitting more carbon emissions than the rest of us:
In many OECD countries, minimum wages are rising. But the US stands out as an outlier:
By the way, raising minimum wages is not as bad as previously thought by economists:
More on the massive decline of child poverty in the US of late:
America, graphed:
RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommended book: The Marcos Era: A Reader (Ateneo Press). You may now pre-order it! The book launch is set on October 12.
Recommended movie: Nope. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Not your usual cowboy-UFO movie.
Recommended series: Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story on Netflix. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A gripping, unsettling series that underscores the necessity of tackling systemic, structural social problems head on—as well as never forgetting.
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