CARMMA statement: From the father to the son: Never heroes (18 November 2025)
KARAPATAN Public Information
Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA)
PRESS RELEASE
18 November 2025
Reference: Kris Lanot Lacaba, CARMMA convenor
CARMMA Secretariat, 09189790580
From the father to the son: Never heroes
November 18, 2025, marks nine years since the burial of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The hero’s burial for the late dictator marked a turning point in the decades-long political rehabilitation of the Marcoses, who inched their way back to power since their ouster in 1986. They used their provincial bailiwicks in Ilocos and Leyte for their backdoor entry into national politics.
Marcos Sr.’s burial, made possible through Rodrigo Duterte, paved the way for Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s return to Malacañang. Duterte struck a deal with the Marcoses who promised him protection from prosecution if he helps usher in Ferdinand Jr. as his successor.
Nine years after, that deal forged in hell has collapsed. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has reneged on his promise of protection for the Dutertes. Like his father, whose martial law declaration concentrated wealth and power in his family and cronies, Marcos Jr. aimed to consolidate corruption among his allies by exposing the wrongdoings of his political rivals.
Targeted politicians have begun spilling the beans as a means of self-preservation. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s principal role as the approving authority behind all fraud-ridden infrastructure projects funded through unprogrammed monies is rapidly being revealed, fuelling the people’s anger.
The dictator’s son now finds himself in the middle of a political maelstrom not unlike that experienced by his father—but with one important difference. The tumults that marked the last three years of Marcos Sr.’s rule are already rocking Marcos Jr. after a mere three years and four months in office.
The people, who could barely contain their outrage at the profligate lifestyles of corrupt bureaucrats and their partners, are unleashing their power through massive protest actions reminiscent of the early 1980s.
How exactly will Marcos Jr.’s political career be buried? Will he be forced to resign like the closest members of his clique have just done? Will he be booted out of Malacañang like his dictator-father? Will he, like his father, call for a snap election which he will likely lose?
The manifestions of the people’s power have made the future ripe with possibilities.
As they say, history has a way of coming back to bite you in the face. Marcos Jr., whose rise to national power was paved through an undeserved hero’s burial for his dictator-father, is now being haunted by the looming possibility of an early demise to his own political career.
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