[Rappler’s Best] Marcos resign? Or Marcos pa rin?

Thousands of Filipinos across key cities mounted their second wave of national protests against corruption on Sunday, November 30, coinciding with the birth anniversary of revolutionary hero Andres Bonifacio. Like the tumultuous times that shaped Bonifacio, the current days of rage are bursting with anger, impatience, and a sense of foreboding. Will this three-year-old government last? Should it? 

Marcos, Duterte resign — is the battlecry of a chunk of the leftist movement that trooped to Luneta and Mendiola on Sunday. In Recto, supporters of the Duterte family screamed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should step down, but not Vice President Sara Duterte. At the People Power Monument in EDSA, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said the nation is not yet ready for a “resign all” call. Paterno Esmaquel II expounds on the Cardinal’s stand here. “Nanlumo ako (I was disheartened),” lamented activist Mae Paner in reaction to David.

That’s the (divided) anti-corruption movement for you. (Read and watch our blow-by-blow account of the rallies here.)

The protests overshadowed the Dutertes’ loss on Friday, November 28, when the International Criminal Court unanimously rejected the appeal of the former president for temporary release. A favorable ruling would have turned Marcos’ annus horribilis into a conflagration that no amount of daily press conferences could put out.

Over coffee or alcohol (depending on your poison of choice), the political class is chattering about whether this country should seize the moment now and try innovative solutions to the long-entrenched corruption of the entire body politic. 

Four Thought Leaders have weighed in on the conversation.

• We cannot wait until the 2028 elections, says lawyer Tony La Viña, who writes about a “hybrid solution” to the crisis, which would entail sustained protests to pressure Marcos and Duterte to resign — a move that would allow the formation of a multisectoral group that will formulate radical policy changes for Congress to act on before elections are held. Read all about it here and let us know your thoughts. 
• The hybrid path is fraught with roadblocks and challenges, argues lawyer Jayson Lamchek, who cites the weaknesses of the very institutions that will be tasked to ensure its success. Read more here. What do you think?   
• Marcos na lang muna, according to political communications consultant Joey Salgado, who says the middle class is not biting all this “resign all” talk largely because Vice President Duterte is “seen as too unhinged and too mired in corruption to be president.” Check it out here.  
• Does it seem more sensible to allow Marcos to finish his term and deal with him later, asks journalist Vergel Santos, adding that the investigation into the flood control scandal appears “good-paced enough.” Vergel explains it here. Thoughts? 

I think the beauty queen Catriona Gray just killed it for me. At the EDSA rally, she laid out three straightforward demands: for the Ombudsman to bring the corrupt to jail pronto; for the Senate to suspend its members implicated in the scandal; and for Congress to pass the anti-dynasty bill. Three very concrete action points.

And, no, the return of P110 million by a resigned public works official won’t do — nor the “executive sessions” that the Independent Commission for Infrastructure has been granting officials who do not wish to be livestreamed.

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– Rappler.com

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