Alexander Bonifacio

Political theater is as old as politics itself. When the sister of a sitting president suddenly distances herself from his administration right after a controversial arrest, the question is not whether she is truly breaking away—but why she wants us to believe that she is. Imee Marcos is still a Marcos. At the end of the day, she remains the sister of Bongbong Marcos Jr., the very man accused of orchestrating the arrest and kidnapping of former President Rodrigo Duterte. The narrative of a rift within the Marcos family is a convenient spectacle, but without definitive proof, one must ask: is this a genuine act of dissent or a calculated move to secure the sympathy—and votes—of Duterte’s loyal supporters? The timing is suspicious. Days after Duterte’s arrest sends shockwaves across the nation, Imee Marcos withdraws from the administration-backed Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas, citing her supposed independence. But let’s examine the mechanics of this maneuver. By appearing to distance...

The fight against disinformation, when wielded by those in power, is rarely about truth. It is about control. The Philippine House of Representatives has positioned itself as the vanguard against fake news, yet its selectivity exposes the real objective. Will it summon GMA News to answer for its baseless claim that former President Rodrigo Duterte sought asylum in China? Will it demand accountability from those who spread misinformation that conveniently serves the ruling order? Or is the inquisition reserved only for critics of the Marcos Jr. administration? The answer is self-evident. Fake news is not the real concern—dissent is. The state does not seek to dismantle disinformation; it seeks to monopolize it. The function of “fake news investigations” is not to correct falsehoods but to create a chilling effect, a warning to journalists, opposition figures, and ordinary citizens alike: speak against the regime, and you will be scrutinized, harassed, and possibly silenced. This asymm...

In societies where power is concentrated in the hands of a few, financial opacity becomes a necessary instrument of control. The recent revelations surrounding PhilHealth’s overstated assets and the unexplained urgency in redirecting its funds to already financed government projects illustrate a broader pattern: public resources are maneuvered not in the service of the people, but in alignment with the political and economic priorities of those in power. The Supreme Court’s scrutiny of PhilHealth’s financial inconsistencies is damning. An adverse opinion from the Commission on Audit (COA) should, under normal circumstances, trigger immediate accountability measures. Instead, what we observe is a deflection—officials unable or unwilling to explain the discrepancies, resorting instead to broad appeals to trust in the “wisdom” of government representatives. This rhetorical sleight of hand is characteristic of administrations that prioritize narrative control over genuine transparency. Sol...

Numbers, in the hands of the powerful, are malleable. They can be inflated or diminished, manipulated to serve an agenda. Whether the media insists that 6,000 or 2,000 Filipinos gathered in The Hague is ultimately irrelevant. The essential fact remains: thousands stood in solidarity for an 80-year-old retired president facing international scrutiny. Foreign observers will not obsess over headcounts; they will ask the far more uncomfortable question— Why?  What compels Filipinos, from all walks of life, to leave their jobs, homes, and daily routines to rally in the streets of a foreign city? Why do they defy a government that, by all measures, holds the instruments of state power? The spectacle of such a gathering carries a symbolic weight that cannot be erased by statistical revisionism. The Marcos Jr. administration and its allies fear this, as all regimes do when confronted by the raw, unfiltered image of dissent. They understand that in the theater of global politics, perceptio...

The suspension of nearly the entire Marikina City leadership—just as administration ally Stella Quimbo runs for mayor—raises concerns about how political power can be leveraged to shape electoral outcomes. The Ombudsman’s six-month suspension of Mayor Marcy Teodoro, Vice Mayor Marion Andres, and most of the City Council has led to speculation that it may benefit administration allies. Mayor Teodoro, already facing legal challenges after his certificate of candidacy for Congress was canceled by COMELEC, finds himself and his administration effectively neutralized. In the meantime, Quimbo—a political figure whose image has been marred by her role in the 2025 budget controversy and discussions around her display of wealth—now finds herself in an electoral race with significantly reduced opposition. Observers note a pattern nationwide: administration candidates running unopposed while opposition figures face legal hurdles, disqualifications, or political setbacks. This is not merely local ...

The Marcos Jr. administration has reached a new level of audacity: threatening Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) with sanctions and the loss of privileges if they do not remit their hard-earned money. This is not merely a desperate economic measure—it is a blatant act of coercion, a further entrenchment of a state that thrives on exploitation rather than governance. For decades, the Philippine government has relied on OFW remittances as a crutch, a substitute for real economic development. The exportation of labor—rather than the creation of sustainable jobs at home—has become the default policy. Successive administrations have treated OFWs as little more than cash cows, celebrated as ‘modern-day heroes’ while being systematically neglected, overtaxed, and given little to no protection from exploitation abroad. Now, Marcos Jr. seeks to take this exploitation even further. By threatening economic sanctions and the removal of ‘privileges’—a laughable term, considering how little ...

The function of power, historically, has been to sustain itself—whether by overt force, coercion, or the subtle manipulation of public consciousness. In the case of the Philippine government under Bongbong Marcos Jr., we are witnessing an insidious erosion of national sovereignty under the guise of legal cooperation. This is not merely a technical matter of international law. It is an explicit declaration that the Filipino people, and their rights, are secondary to the demands of external forces. Marcos Jr.'s administration has openly accepted that international courts have jurisdiction over Filipino citizens. This is not simply a capitulation to the International Criminal Court (ICC); it is the admission that any Filipino, at any time, can be subjected to the authority of foreign tribunals without the protections ostensibly afforded by Philippine law. The implications of such a position are profound, and history provides ample warning for what follows when a nation willingly surre...