28/05/2026
HOW DARE YOU, MR. PRESIDENT!
A FUTURE BEING STOLEN
Every time I look at my grandchildren, I feel anger mixed with fear. Anger because the future that should rightfully belong to them is being recklessly squandered by leaders entrusted to build a nation worthy of the next generation. Fear because the country they may one day inherit is slowly drifting toward decline while those in power pretend that everything is under control.
How dare you, Mr. President, ask for patience and understanding from a suffering people when your administration has produced disappointment after disappointment?
The tragedy is no longer abstract. It is felt at every dining table where families struggle with rising prices, in every young Filipino dreaming of leaving the country because hope has become scarce, and in every parent and grandparent wondering whether tomorrow will still be kinder than today.
A HISTORIC MANDATE WASTED
You were not an accidental president. You were not elected by a mere plurality. You became the first majority-elected president under the 1987 Constitution. It was a mandate of historic proportions.
The Filipino people, despite the painful memories associated with your family name, chose to give the Marcoses another chance after the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution. That was not merely a political victory. It was an extraordinary act of national forgiveness. Millions hoped your presidency would finally redeem the Marcos name and prove that history could produce wisdom, humility, and transformation. Instead, what did the nation witness?
You squandered a rare opportunity for redemption and sullied the family name even further.
CORRUPTION WITHOUT SHAME
Under your administration, allegations of corruption have exploded with breathtaking brazenness, scandals involving billions upon billions of pesos discussed almost casually, as though public funds were nothing more than private spoils for the politically connected. Even worse, impunity has become normalized. Accountability appears optional. Public outrage is brushed aside. Critics are mocked, vilified, and persecuted. Allies are protected. The powerful remain insulated while ordinary Filipinos bear the burden of government incompetence and abuse.
Meanwhile, the nation suffers. The peso has weakened dramatically under your watch. Prices of food, electricity, fuel, and other necessities continue to suffocate ordinary families. Economic growth has slowed. Foreign direct investments lag behind most ASEAN neighbors. International corruption perception rankings continue to embarrass the country. Investors do not rush toward governments perceived as corrupt, unstable, and directionless.
Yet Malacañang continues projecting an image detached from reality as though polished speeches, staged optimism, and glossy presentations can erase the daily hardships endured by millions of Filipinos.
EVERY ADVANTAGE, LITTLE TO SHOW
The cruelest part is this: you were given every possible advantage. You inherited overwhelming political capital, a massive congressional majority, and a government machinery almost entirely aligned behind you. Few presidents in modern Philippine history began their term with such immense power and goodwill.
And yet, despite all of that, the nation today feels weaker, poorer, more frustrated, and more divided.
The people themselves have begun withdrawing their trust, reflected in your deeply negative satisfaction ratings. But instead of humility and introspection, your administration appears addicted to the applause of sycophants and political courtiers who tell you only what you want to hear.
Leadership demands honesty, not flattery. But governments surrounded by praise often become blind to reality and dangerous to the nation they govern.
THE SYMBOLISM OF DYNASTY AND ENTITLEMENT
Then there is the painful symbolism surrounding your own family.
Parents are supposed to set examples for their children. But what example is being projected when your son, Sandro Marcos, reportedly linked in public controversies involving “maletas” of millions, lectures fellow lawmakers about loyalty while occupying one of the most powerful positions in Congress despite limited experience beyond carrying a famous surname?
That image alone captures what many Filipinos have grown tired of: entitlement without merit, privilege without accountability, and power exercised without humility.
For millions of struggling Filipinos, it reinforces the painful belief that in this country, connections matter more than competence, surnames matter more than service, and dynasty matters more than democracy.
“MAHIYA NAMAN KAYO!”
You once said, “Mahiya naman kayo!”
Indeed, Mr. President, mahiya naman kayo. Be ashamed of a government where corruption scandals multiply while millions struggle merely to survive. Be ashamed that many Filipinos now see migration, not nation-building, as their only path toward dignity and opportunity. Be ashamed that the enormous trust given to you by a hopeful nation is rapidly evaporating.
History gave your family another chance. The Filipino people extended forgiveness where many believed none was deserved.
And this is how that trust is being repaid?
CHANGE OR STEP ASIDE
You still have a little over two years left in your presidency. That is enough time either to begin genuine reforms or to deepen the nation’s wounds beyond repair.
Surround yourself not with flatterers but with truth-tellers. Remove the corrupt regardless of friendship, political debt, or family ties. Stop pretending that criticism is destabilization. Listen to the anger outside the palace walls before it becomes irreversible national despair.
Because if nothing changes, history may remember your administration not as the redemption of the Marcos legacy, but as the moment the Filipino people finally concluded that they had been fooled twice.
(Contributed by Tata Juan)
Photo caption:
Tata Juan is "lolo" to these children. He is deeply concerned about the future of the following generations. (Contributed photo)
