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. (Photo above from Rappler.)
On June 30, shortly after noon, and 36 years after the Marcos family was booted out of Malacañang Palace, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was inaugurated as the 17th president of the Philippines.
It was a beastly hot and humid day in front of the National Museum of Fine Arts. Marcos Jr. put his hand over the same bible used during his father’s own inauguration back in December 30, 1965.
Marcos Jr. also sported a watch that netizens said might be a Patek Philippe easily costing millions of pesos. Before this, his camp said the inauguration will be “very solemn and simple.”
Speaking of “simple,” there was a huge parade of troops and military assets in front of the National Museum. Somehow reminiscent of the huge military parades at Pyongyang. Several aircraft flew overhead.
And speaking of “solemn,” First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos infamously stuck her tongue out at the crowd during the ceremonies. She and her husband were quite distracted throughout, too; during the ecumenical prayer, they were seen openly chatting.
Marcos Jr. took his oath before Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, formerly a commissioner of the gov’t agency—the PCGG or Presidential Commission on Good Government—tasked to go after the Marcoses’ ill-gotten wealth. How ironic.
Marcos Jr. supposedly “will not be needing a teleprompter” for his inaugural. But there were teleprompters in the end.
Atty Ruben Carranza, former head of PCGG, took note of the sight of Bongbong and Imelda in front of the stage and pondered:
Marcos Jr. took his oath with no concrete and comprehensive plan for the economy, despite the myriad challenges facing the country including a 3-year high inflation rate, rising debt, and crises on multiple fronts.
This, despite being able to recruit in his economic team seasoned economists from the UP School of Economics.
This also contrasts with the “10-point socioeconomic agenda” that ex-president Rodrigo Duterte’s camp bared weeks before Duterte’s own inauguration.
Marcos Jr.’s inaugural speech, notably in English, was also filled with lies and misleading statements that harked back to his father’s purported achievements—even as Marcos Jr. promised that “I am here not to talk about the past. I am here to tell you about our future… We do not look back, but ahead…”
I wrote about some of the big lies in my Rappler column.
Marcos Jr. came up the Palace’s main stairs as president, 53 years after he climbed those stairs as presidential son in 1969. The composite photo below is quite striking.
Marcos Jr. also started his term by swearing in his new cabinet members. But disturbingly there were still a lot of glaring vacancies in his cabinet, like the secretaries of health (of all posts!), environment and natural resources, energy, housing, and science and technology.
It was only on July 1 that Marcos Jr. appointed a foreign affairs secretary in the person of veteran diplomat Enrique Manalo; this came as a relief for many people.
The first cabinet meeting was set on July 1 originally, but postponed to next week. By stark contrast, his predecessors PNoy and even Duterte held their first cabinet meetings on their respective June 30 inauguration days.
Celebrations followed Marcos Jr.’s inaugural. There was a “Pasasalamat Concert” at Mendiola for Marcos Jr.’s voters and fans, but not so many people came to join—despite the performers requesting people watching online to join in person. Marcos Jr. was supposed to attend but skipped it, disappointing some fans.
Meanwhile, at the inaugural dinner inside the Palace, luxury.
Guests were said to have been given gold-colored commemorative coins/medallions, according to journalist Antonio Montalvan II. A photo of the menu also called the otherwise humble tinolang manok as “savory chicken soup with ginger and lemongrass steamed in green papaya.” Fancy.
There was band music and dancing and disco lights inside Malacañang.
Here’s an account from Nestor Corrales of Inquirer:
Then on July 2, Imelda’s 93rd birthday celebration was held inside Malacañang Palace as well.
She was gifted by nephew and Ilocos Norte’s 2nd district representative Angelo Marcos Barba a painting featuring her and Marcos Sr.
Some netizens were outraged that this party was held in the Palace using taxpayers’ money, amid 3-year high inflation, and even before Marcos Jr. was able to complete and meet his cabinet.
The celebrations bring to mind the lavish parties Imelda used to throw back during their family’s heyday.
Also on July 2, a huge electronic billboard along EDSA featured a birthday greeting for Imelda. The billboard not only had bad copy (spelling “93th Birth day”) but also used without permission an image of Imelda from the documentary The Kingmaker. Said the docu director Lauren Greenfield:
The poorly executed birthday message along EDSA was taken down soon after. But the director flagged another offending e-billboard attached to a footbridge.
Someone offered a more apt e-billboard:
In other news, on June 29, the day before Marcos Jr.’s inauguration, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued an order to revoke the registration of online news site Rappler. It’s as if ex-president Duterte couldn’t resist, before stepping down, one last kick at the already embattled Philippine press.
Rappler carries on as it exhausts all available legal remedies; the case will be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. Before this, the Duterte gov’t also blocked access to legitimate news websites like Bulatlat.com, invoking decisions of the anti-terrorism council.
On June 18, UPSE professor emeritus Winnie Monsod said that her Inquirer column was unceremoniously discontinued after 20 years, ostensibly because of her involvement in Rappler’s board. Note that Inquirer’s president and CEO Sandy Prieto-Romualdez is the wife of Benjamin Philip Romualdez, who’s a nephew of Imelda.
One blow to press freedom after the other.
On inauguration day martial law survivors pledged to combat lies and tyranny at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City.
Vice President Sara Duterte converted her campaign HQs into satellite offices of the Office of the Vice President.
Actress Ella Cruz became viral for saying “History is like tsismis [gossip],” to which renowned historian Ambeth Ocampo replied, “Real history is about truth, not lies, not fiction.” Cruz is playing presidential sister Irene Marcos in an upcoming propaganda film about the Marcoses, titled “Maid in Malacañang.”
In response to Cruz’s controversial statement, someone proposed a renaming of the famous textbook of Teodoro A. Agoncillo:
In one of his first official acts, President Marcos Jr. also vetoed a legislative bill proposing to establish an economic zone at the site of the Bulacan “aerocity” being built by San Miguel Corporation (SMC). Marcos Jr. cited the need for “fiscal prudence.”
Are the Palace parties an example of “fiscal prudence”?
The President added:
“While this administration recognizes the objective of the proposed measure to accelerate economic growth in its locality, I cannot support the bill considering the provisions that pose fiscal risks to the country.”
At Marcos Jr.’s inaugural, SMC’s president and CEO Ramon Ang was spotted biting off his fingernails.
