Addressing those ‘drug user’ rumors

Allegations about the President being a drug user is certainly no laughing matter. Just ask First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos who recently came out swinging against President Marcos’ ally and running mate, Vice President Sara Duterte. In a rare display of pique that confirmed the growing rift between the camps of the two highest officials of the land, Araneta-Marcos slammed the Vice President for supposedly laughing when her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, described Mr. Marcos as a drug addict (“bangag”) during a rally in Davao City last January. The scene was caught on video.

“You went to a rally where your President was called a drug addict, then you’re going to laugh? Is that the right thing to do?” the First Lady said in an interview with broadcaster Anthony Taberna last month. “Bad shot na sa akin ‘yan (She’s now on my bad side),” Mrs. Marcos added, shutting the door on a possible reconciliation with the other half of the victorious UniTeam tandem in the 2022 elections.Sara Duterte’s response didn’t help any as she simply shrugged off the First Lady’s “personal feelings” as having nothing to do with her job as VP. She’d rather discuss the issue privately with the President, she added.

Fanning the fireGiven the First Lady’s unmistakable message that she’d take on any critic of her husband, one would think that rumors about Mr. Marcos’ alleged drug use would melt away, never to be mentioned again.

And yet the Duterte camp appears to be fanning the fire. On Tuesday, the Senate panel on public order and dangerous drugs led by Duterte ally and former police chief Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, held a hearing on an alleged document from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) that supposedly listed Mr. Marcos as a subject of its operation in 2012. Photos of the documents that supposedly came from PDEA’s Authority to Operate and a Pre-Operation Report and dated March 11, 2012, were posted in a vlog circulated online.

At the hearing, PDEA Director General Moro Virgilio Lazo categorically denied the existence of such a report and said the documents, shared by a vlogger, were fake. But a former PDEA agent, Jonathan Morales, insisted in the same hearing that the documents linking Mr. Marcos and actress Maricel Soriano were authentic, as he was among the signatories.

Kicking the hornet’s nestCuriously enough, Dela Rosa immediately vouched for the authenticity of the documents, pointing out the punch hole marks in the photocopied papers, indicating, he said, that they came from a document folder. While the holes are hardly proof that the documents are authentic, such incredulous assertion might be expected of a senator whose loyalty has always been with his former boss.Still, Mr. Marcos shares the blame for the festering rumor about his drug use. “I wouldn’t even dignify the question,” he had said when asked to respond to Duterte’s accusations that he was using drugs. Instead, the President attributed the claim to Duterte’s regular use of the painkiller Fentanyl, said to be 100 times more potent than morphine.

Mr. Marcos might have chosen a dignified approach, but his predecessor apparently has no qualms about kicking the hornet’s nest. In the January rally, Duterte even dragged the military into the fray: “Kayong mga military, alam ninyo ‘yan … The Armed Forces of the Philippines, alam ninyo. May drug addict tayo na presidente, p*tang inang ‘yan.” He added that when he was Davao City mayor, the PDEA had shown him “evidence” that Mr. Marcos was an illegal drug user.

“… [Si] Bongbong Marcos, bangag noon. Ngayong presidente na, bangag ang ating presidente.”

Fodder for destabilizationFor sure, Duterte has an ax to grind against Mr. Marcos, as his daughter Sara is being edged out of Malacañang’s graces. Still, these are very serious charges that should not be merely shrugged off.

Unfortunately, the PDEA has been involved in so many controversies that its credibility is compromised. So it is now up to the President to tackle this issue head-on instead of relying on his wife to take up the cudgels for him, especially now that this matter is being given play in the Senate by Duterte’s allies.The allegations about drug use strike at the integrity of the President’s high office, and the effectiveness of his administration’s campaign against illegal drugs. As well, the accusations have become fodder for destabilization moves by Mr. Marcos’ former allies turned political foes and opportunists. Just as the First Lady would not let such brazen statements go unchallenged, it is imperative for Mr. Marcos to address such allegations and lay them to rest. With his rivals and detractors gleefully fanning the rumors—no doubt to influence next year’s elections—the President must firmly and decisively put out the fire before it consumes him.