OPINION | Destabilization plot

February 3, 2025 , 07:00 PM

By Manny Mogato

(February 3, 2025) – Bongbong Marcos Jr. has sounded the alarm bells.

Speaking to reporters in the central Philippines last week, Marcos said groups were out to create trouble after a petition was sent to the Supreme Court, asking the high tribunal to declare the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) unconstitutional.

“They want the government to cease working so they can continue the destabilization they are doing,” Marcos said, accusing political opponents of attempting to bring down the government.

The petition before the Supreme Court was filed by a lawmaker closely identified with Marcos’ predecessor, former president Rodrigo Duterte, and a lawyer who used to serve as Marcos’ executive secretary. The lawyer is now running for a Senate seat under Duterte’s banner in the May 2025 midterm elections.

Another group, led by a former finance official and a staunch anti-Duterte, would file this month a second petition before the high court to strike down the 2025 budget law, which the president signed into law on December 30, as unconstitutional.

The two groups held separate anti-corruption protests last month in the capital and key cities outside Metro Manila.

The pro-Duterte group called on lawmakers to junk the impeachment complaints against Vice Pres. Sara Duterte-Carpio, criticizing the corruption in high places by pointing out vested interests in passing the 2025 national budget.

On the other hand, the pro-impeachment groups gathered a respectable crowd at the EDSA Shrine and in Liwasang Bonifacio to ask Congress to speed up the impeachment process and demand accountability and transparency in the budget.

It appeared there was a confluence of interests as two politically opposing forces stood on almost the same grounds to question the constitutionality of the 2025 budget.

However, the two groups may have separate motives for filing petitions before the Supreme Court.

The pro-Duterte group, led by congressman Isidro Ungab and lawyer Vic Rodriguez, was protesting based on purely political grounds.

The other group, led by former finance undersecretary Cielo Magno, was advocating for good governance and accountability not only on the Marcos administration but on past actions by the Duterte administration.

The group also demanded that Duterte-Carpio explain where millions of pesos in confidential and intelligence funds went.

It was obvious that the pro-Duterte group was only using the anti-corruption issue to agitate supporters to call on the president to resign and hand over power to Duterte’s inexperienced daughter.

Perhaps, when Marcos talked about a destabilization plot, he was referring to this group, who is getting desperate to get rid of the president because the May elections would make them irrelevant.

Besides, an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague is like a sword of Damocles hanging over the former president’s neck.

Duterte has tried everything to unseat Marcos, agitating and recruiting soldiers to turn against the commander-in-chief, but the president has remained strong.

The 2025 GAA may be Marcos’ Achilles Heel, finding some loopholes in the budget law that could be exploited.

The anti-Duterte and pro-impeachment groups also found the same flaws in the 2025 budget law, a vulnerability in the Marcos administration.

It was a cause for concern.

The majority of the 15 justices in the Supreme Court were appointed by Duterte. If the high court strikes down the 2025 GAA, it could result in a government shutdown in an election year.

The president admitted that the administration has no Plan B. A reenacted 2025 budget would disrupt funding for government programs and projects, particularly the midterm elections in May. It would also derail the Marcos administration’s efforts to grow the economy, reduce poverty, create more jobs, and tame inflation.

Marcos said he is confident the government can defend the constitutionality of the 2025 budget law before the Supreme Court.

He believed the changes he had made by vetoing some provisions were enough to correct the flaws.

People close to the president said the destabilization talks were only political noise as the midterm elections draw near. It could be a distraction to prevent the Marcos team from dominating the senatorial elections.

There are 12 seats contested in the Senate, and based on pre-election surveys, eight to nine candidates from Marcos’ team would win seats. Only incumbent senator Bong Go would likely win a seat. The other two are independent candidates.

Dominating the May 2025 elections in the Senate matters a lot when the upper chamber of Congress sits as political judges in an impeachment court in the second half of the year.

The vice president needs eight to nine votes to block a conviction in the Senate trial, which could permanently disqualify her from holding a public office, including a barangay council member.

Thus, the Duterte and Marcos camps are racing to oust each other from power. The Duterte group wants an extra-constitutional means to remove the president.

Marcos’ allies, on the other hand, want to remove the vice president through a legal, constitutional process.

The views expressed by the columnist do not necessarily reflect that of the media organization.

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