No more separation of powers, nor checks and balances  

With BBM and Inday Sara in the Executive department, with Juan Miguel Zubiri as Senate president and with Martin Ferdinand Romualdez as speaker, let us kiss goodbye such vital constitutional principles of separation of powers and checks and balances. There is a supermajority where 21 out of 24 senators are allies of Malacañang and almost 90% of the House representatives are going to "balimbing" to BBM's political axis of power and funds. Goodbye, democracy.

Too much concentration of powers in one person or one political party is a high risk to the welfare and interests of the people. The Philippines will now partake of the nature of governance of Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia, as well Kim Jong-un of North Korea. The Philippines is on the brink of becoming another Afghanistan under the unbridled rule of Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, or Algeria under Abdelmadjid Tebbounne, Angola under Joao Lourenco, Yemen under Abd Al-Hadi, Venezuela under Nicolás Maduro, Syria under Bashar al-Assad, and a host of other dictatorial regimes.

The only hope for the Filipinos is the Supreme Court, provided that it is supported by the Church, the fourth estate or the tri-media, and civil society composed of the youth, progressive labor sector and the academe. Of course we have a 15-member Supreme Court, with 13 appointed by the outgoing president, including the chief justice. With the bypass by the Commission on Appointments of the nominees for the Comelec, COA, and Civil Service Commission, it is a sign that the incoming president would like to control the three constitutional commissions. There are talks to abolish the Philippine Commission on Good Government and the Commission on Human Rights. Well, they need constitutional amendments to do away with human rights and legislation to set aside the PCGG.

The only opposition in the Senate will be Risa Hontiveros, the lone survivor in the last polls, and Koko Pimentel, whose father, the iconic Nene Pimentel, was arrested, persecuted, and detained four times during the martial law regime. The brother and sister tandem of Alan Peter and Pia Cayetano are not genuine opposition, but opportunists who are still aligned with the Villar-dominated Nacionalista Party and are just embarrassed to join BBM's supermajority because of the harsh words spoken by Alan Peter against BBM in 2016, and the "lecture" that the lawyer Pia once gave to the non-lawyer Imee Marcos. I don't trust Cayetanos. Unlike their late father, these two will go where their own selfish agenda is assured. That means, we only have Risa and Koko for the people.

With Malacañang, the Senate, the Lower House, and all the constitutional commissions following the command of only one person, and with the entire army, navy, and air force all under the same commander-in-chief, who will speak for the simple and ordinary Filipinos? In the Senate, with Imee Marcos heading the committee on foreign relations, with Bong Revilla in public works, Win Gatchalian heading ways and means and controlling education to support Inday Sara in DepEd, with Bong Go controlling health and Jinggoy leading the labor committee and Raffy Tulfo for the OFWs. The unkindest cut of all is Robin Padilla heading constitutional amendments. My God, “what is happening to our country, general?” to quote the late vice president Emmanuel Pelaez.

There is no more Dick Gordon in the Senate, no more Tito Sotto and Ping Lacson. There are no more genuine oppositionists in the House. Even the partylists are bastardized. Super billionaires are representing the poor and the marginalized. Wives of trapos are also in the House representing questionable partylists. The people are blinded, misled, and manipulated. They don't even know that they are being fried using their own lard. The Philippines is under a virtual one-man rule, and may God have mercy on our souls.