PBBM offer of reconciliation, resignation call seen with suspicion

THE intention of President Marcos Jr. to “reconcile” with the camp of Vice President Sara Duterte has been met with suspicion even as his surprised call for the courtesy resignation of the members of his Official Family is being seen to foment resentment and erosion of confidence in his leadership.

During his podcast interview with veteran broadcast journalist Anthony ‘Tunying’ Taberna last May 19, the President said that given the number of his “enemies,” what he wants now is to ‘reconcile’ (“makipagkasundo”) with the Duterte camp.

However, the Chief Executive declined to throw his influence to stop the impeachment of his Vice President, saying the “process” is already ongoing at the Senate.

He also made no reference to the fate of former President Rodrigo Duterte who was handed by his administration to the International Criminal Court (ICC) last March 10 under a highly questionable and scandalous circumstance.

Both incidents, according to Navotas congressman and ‘Team Alyansa’ campaign manager, Rep. Tobby Tiangco, contributed to the disastrous result of the midterm polls where the administration ticket performed very poorly against the Duterte slate.

Malacañang also remains silent on the decision of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to withhold the proclamation of the Duterte Youth partylist, which is closely identified with the Duterte camp, despite its being the second ranked partylist elected in the midterm polls with more than 2.3 million votes (see related article).

Courtesy resignation: Cabinet blamed for disastrous election result?

Three days later, on May 22, President Marcos ordered his Cabinet members, presidential advisers and heads of other government agencies to submit their ‘courtesy resignation’ in order to, “recalibrate” his administration.

“This is not business as usual,” the President said. “It’s time to realign government with the people’s expectations.”

While his Cabinet members immediately complied, the decision to also immediately retain his ‘economic team’ headed by Finance Secretary Ralph Recto the next day, created suspicion among other Cabinet members that the call has specifically targeted some of them as an excuse to remove them to accommodate new political appointees.

Coming in after the interview with Taberna where the President hinted of removing officials for “underperformance,” some Cabinet officials also feel the President is now ‘spinning’ the situation to impliedly blame them over the elections’ disastrous result.