By Tony Lopez
Is Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr. (BBM) by now a lame duck president? Hell, no.
With three years and 40 days left of his six-year term, BBM is a breathtakingly powerful president and commander-in-chief. And personally likeable.
It’s the things BBM has failed to do or deliver for the people that make him seemingly unpopular and lose momentum.
Until noon of June 30, 2028, Marcos Jr. exercises tremendous powers. He is, in fact, more powerful than the president of the United States.
Sara Duterte is the lame duck
Without a line department like DepEd which has a gargantuan P737 billion fund and the vice president’s paltry P700-million budget (one-tenth of one percent of a P6.7 trillion national budget), Sara Duterte is the one who is a lame duck, reduced to a rant machine, a captive of the pettiness of politics.
Of the 115 reelectionist congressmen who signed the impeachment of Sara Duterte, 100 won, including 36 of 44 pro-impeachment reelectionist lawmakers from Mindanao, Duterte’s stronghold.
Senate will try Sara
The 24-member Senate will proceed with Sara’s impeachment trial for betrayal of public trust, not necessarily to convict her but to shame her out of her wits, so that at the end of it, she is reduced to “a tattered coat upon a stick”, in the words of William Butler Yeats, and banished to the hellish city of ignominy.
Meanwhile, BBM should quit sulking in his tent and go, kill the five-headed hydra of high prices, food shortages, criminality, bad government service, and corruption.
He has already fulfilled his biggest promise—rice at P20 per kilo, a big achievement as no president before him brought down the price of the cereal, except the late Ferdinand Marcos Sr. who produced a rice surplus.
Food is half of inflation
Food is 55% of the consumer price index that measures inflation. Of that 55, 15 percentage points is rice. Since high food prices are half of inflation, bringing down the price of rice and other basic foods brings down inflation. In April 2025, inflation hit its lowest in five years—1.2%.
OFWs loved President Rodrigo Roa Duterte? Why? He told Customs to stop harassing returning Filipinos at the airport. Under BBM, severe screening of Filipino travelers’ luggage is back, including tanim-bala and punit passport. Just how much revenue (or bribe) can you extract from these people—supposedly our heroes?
BBM has enormous powers to do good
President Marcos Jr. wields enormous executive, legislative, and judicial powers.
No other official has so much power, power that can be harnessed for the betterment of the life of every Filipino.
The president has inherent powers, foreign affairs functions, and specific powers in the realm of public international law.
His police powers enable him to enforce regulations that promote public order, health, safety, morals, and general welfare.
The chief executive has supervision and control of executive departments with a combined work force of more than two million. He has hire and fire power over them.
The government is the country’s largest corporation and accounts for 24% of GDP.
The president can issue executive orders, administrative orders, proclamations, memoranda, and circulars which have the effect and impact of law.
He can veto bills, prepare the budget, call Congress to special sessions. He can enter into treaties and executive agreements.
Commander-in-chief
The commander-in-chief may call out the armed forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion, or rebellion, without need for Congress consent.
He can suspend the writ habeas corpus and declare martial law for 60 days.
While only Congress can declare war, the president exercises operational control over the military during war. In times of war or other national emergencies, the president may be granted emergency powers by Congress.
Unknown to many, the president can also take over private businesses.
BBM retains much of this political capital. His Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas won six or half of the 12 Senate seats contested on May 12, 2025—Erwin Tulfo, Ping Lacson, Vicente Sotto, Pia Cayetano, Camille Villar, and Lito Lapid.
That’s a 50% mandate, commanding enough considering BBM’s pre-election 25% job approval rating in April 2025 (Pulse Asia) and 43% dissatisfaction rating (30% satisfaction), as early as February 2025, per WR Numero poll, a month before Rodrigo Roa Duterte was arrested on March 11, 2025.
Duterte’s banishment to The Hague is not the principal reason why many people think BBM lost in the election.
The anti-BBM/pro-Duterte coalition won four senators—Bong Go, Bato dela Rosa, Rodante Marcoleta, and Imee Marcos.
That’s 33%. The neutral or independents won two—Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan. That’s 17%.
Of the 12 senators who are incumbent, BBM can count on the support of at least seven senators – Chiz Escudero, Loren Legarda, Win Gatchalian, Raffy Tulfo, Migz Zubiri, Joel Villanueva, and Risa Hontiveros. Five tilt pro-Duterte: Robin Padilla, JV Ejercito, Alan Cayetano, Mark Villar, and Jinggoy Estrada.
BBM coalition has majority of the Senate
Six newly elected plus seven incumbents make for a majority of 13 senators.
BBM retains enormous persuasive powers over the senators.
In Congress, Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez has assembled a commanding coalition of 253 pro-admin congressmen, or 80% of total House seats of 316 which include 63 party-list congressmen.
In 79 years of Congress, never has a ruling president gathered an overwhelming 80% of solons under his umbrella.
The economy remains robust and is the second fastest growing in ASEAN. It grew 5.7% in 2024, second only to Vietnam’s 7.1%.
It expanded 5.4% in first quarter 2025, again, second only to Vietnam’s 7.0%, per IMF.
For the whole of 2025, IMF sees the Philippine growth at 5.5%, higher than Vietnam’s 5.2% as the latter is pummeled by Trump’s 47% tariff.
In the whole of Asia, only India’s 6.2% GDP growth will exceed the Philippines’ 5.5%. We are one of Asia’s best.