Marcos Jr. now controls the press as much as his dictator father did
OTHER than President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s and his super-elite friends’ cocaine-snorting sessions at least 10 or so years ago and that she was offered the drug by the first lady herself, whistleblower Cathy Binag’s exposé has led to the revelation of an appalling development that threatens our democracy.
It is this: A president, Marcos Jr., almost completely controls the press — by which I mean the print as well as broadcast media — after his dictator father, the second time this has happened in our postwar history.
My easy-to-see proof? After Binag’s allegations made in the “Boldyak” YouTube channel of vlogger Maharlika (given name: Claire Contreras), not a single article or opinion column (except by me) has been published in any newspaper or major TV broadcast network. Not even the Daily Tribune, set up by former president Duterte’s financiers and media handler, reported or had an opinion on Binag’s accusations. Indeed, perhaps in observation of itself and the rest of media, the Philippine Daily Inquirer dropped in 2016 the famous “Without fear or favor” slogan it had on its front page for 31 years. More and more, it seems to be fear, favor and even “funds” in envelopes that determine the coverage of mainstream media.
Instead of the administration responding to Binag’s allegations, two days after, Melquiades Robles, general manager of the cash-rich Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) and the personal choice of Liza Araneta-Marcos to that post, announced that he would be filing charges against Maharlika in a California court for defamation not against the Marcos couple but against his person. Now, almost all newspapers reported that development. The Cebu Daily News reported that Robles had contracted one of the most expensive lawyers in the state, Camille Velasquez, who had successfully represented actor Johnny Depp in his defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard. I don’t think Robles is so onion-skinned that he would use his personal, hard-earned money for a suit he knows he won’t win, given US judges’ known bias toward the press, but which could easily cost P50 million.
Accusations by a credible witness, Cathy Binag — who claims to have accompanied her former partner, business magnate Antonio Floirendo, a member of that exclusive cocaine-loving circle, to those drug sessions — that the president of the Republic and most probably his wife Liza were coke snorters, and probably still are, and it is not news, not even as a small news story in the inside pages? Only the most intellectually dishonest journalist would argue that it was a speculative story and, therefore, shouldn’t be reported: The accusations were not made by an anonymous source but a real person, and her spontaneous narration of details of Marcos’ circle’s coke-snorting certainly aren’t speculative.
Dutertes
I asked the owner of one of the biggest newspapers, whose Facebook account has a big 300,000 following, why it didn’t report the Marcos cocaine revelation. The owner replied: “My instruction to my editors is, don’t publish any news about people in Malacañang, good or bad, dahil wala sa matinong kaisipan ang mga taong nasa Palasyo. At wala namang tutulong sa akin kung iipitin ako as in the case of the Dutertes.”
Marcos’ persecution of the SMNI television broadcast network that had been critical of the President and its de facto owner, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, as well as his government’s obvious operation to demonize former president Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter Vice President Sara — with no one among the former president’s supporters and allies appearing to abandon him — bolsters that newspaper owner’s justification.
What is worrying is that even owners’ staff who had not been given such explicit orders have internalized the directive not to cross Malacañang. I asked the big boss of a respected paper: “Why didn’t you report on the Binag allegations, which are inarguably big news?” He replied: “It wasn’t in the lineup [of stories] given to me.”
I nearly fell out of my seat: If “innocent,” they should be fired for incompetence, for totally lacking that “nose for news” that distinguishes laymen from journalists. Or he should call for a meeting and tell them: “We do not have sacred cows in this newspaper, not even the president.”
Clinton
Back in 1992, the US newspapers’ front pages were dominated by reports citing anonymous sources saying that then-candidate Bill Clinton had smoked marijuana in college. He would eventually admit the claim, excusing him with that memorable “I didn’t inhale the smoke…” Clinton would have lost the elections if not for the fact that he cleverly steered the issue to highlight the recession under reelectionist George Bush with his brilliant, “It’s the recession, stupid.”
Here, the President is being accused by a very credible eyewitness of regularly having cocaine-snorting sessions with his closest friends and may still be addicted to it. In fact, an image of him has become viral on social media, taken from an official video, which shows him with what appears to be cocaine residue (see photo) just below his nose. Social media also has posted videos of him with signs of what medically is termed “cocaine jaw” — moving his jaw uncontrollably and grinding his teeth.
Everyone knew whom Duterte was referring to in 2022 when he said that a presidential candidate was a drug addict. A Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency agent earlier alleged in several Congress hearings that he was about to undertake a surveillance operation against Marcos during the Aquino 3rd administration for participating in regular cocaine-snorting sessions. However, he said he was stopped from doing so by Aquino 3rd’s executive secretary Paquito Ochoa, who had been a co-founder of Liza Marcos’ law firm.
Yet mainstream media ignores this most recent revelation by an insider, an eyewitness, even if it jibes with previously reported allegations. Shame on you.
Concern
Why the concern over leaders taking mind-altering drugs?
Because obviously, not only does addiction reveal the (weak) character of the person who is leading millions of people. It raises the question: Is he still taking it? If he is, there can be no doubt that he would be leading the country to disaster. How can you have a president who sniffs cocaine in the evening, who the following day would just go through his duties in a stupor? An Ateneo classmate who had been, in fact, with a cocaine circle ran down one business after another as he slept the whole morning after taking the drug the previous night and went through the rest of the day in torpor so that his business became so mismanaged that employees easily stole from him.
Indeed, President Estrada’s fall, according to witnesses’ accounts, was due to the fact that when the political crisis that led to his downfall built up in November and December 2000, he was mentally incapacitated to mount a counter-offensive against the Yellow forces because he would get drunk after imbibing his favorite Petrus wine, even at breakfast, and a personal aide was foolishly giving him Valium.
Cocaine addiction is classified as a serious illness by our health department based on the many guidelines and medical studies of the World Health Organization. Our Constitution’s Article VII, Section 12 states: “In case of serious illness of the president, the public shall be informed of the state of his health. The members of the Cabinet in charge of national security and foreign relations and the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines shall not be denied access to the President during such illness.”
Test
For chrissakes, why is Marcos refusing to take the reliable hair follicle test (which Paolo Duterte recently took) to prove he no longer has this serious illness of drug addiction, as Duterte has been demanding? That should settle the issue, and the country can move on.
If he refuses to take the test, the majority of the Cabinet, including the executive secretary, if they are patriotic enough, under the Constitution (Article VII, Section 11), can declare in writing to Congress that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office, the vice president shall immediately assume the powers and duties as acting President.
The silver lining in Marcos’ assassination of media as fiscalizer is that it has incontrovertibly demonstrated beyond any doubt that social media has emerged as the country’s sole fiscalizer, the champion against declared or undeclared tyranny, which can even bury six feet under mainstream media on particular issues.
If not for social media, no one would have heard of Binag’s shocking revelations since mainstream media — for fear, favor or funds — didn’t report it. Now, it’s the talk of the town.
Facebook: Rigoberto Tiglao
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Website: www.rigobertotiglao.com
The post Marcos Jr. now controls the press as much as his dictator father did first appeared on Rigoberto Tiglao.
Marcos Jr. now controls the press as much as his dictator father did
Source: Breaking News PH
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